Brandon McGowan is a veteran professional football player who is a free safety for the New England Patriots in the National Football League. Before joining the Patriots as a free agent on May 5, 2009, McGowan played with the Chicago Bears. He initially went undrafted in 2005, signing with the Bears later that year. In his five seasons in the NFL, McGowan has played only 41 of the possible 80 possible games as various injuries kept him off the field in 2005, 2006 and 2008.http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=playerbio&bio=33680

The New Jersey native also played NCAA Football in college with the Maine Black Bears football team and at Lincoln High School as a prep, earning several awards along the way.http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=playerbio&bio=33680

After failing to earn a selection in the 2005 NFL Draft, McGowan signed with the Chicago Bears and made his debut that same season. He dressed for eight games, including one start, adding 31 tackles and a pass deflection to the team. He was sidelined for all but one game during the 2006 campaign, dealing with injures, but bounced back to play in 14 games in 2007. Taking over as the starting safety of the Bears, McGowan notched 68 tackles, three pass deflections and two interceptions that season. He missed the majority of the 2008 regular season, spending the year on injured reserve. After the season, McGowan was not offered a contract extension from the Bears.http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=playerbio&bio=33680

He signed with the Patriots prior to the 2009 season and went on to play in all 16 regular season games with the team that year. McGowan recorded career-best numbers for tackles, at 79, pass deflections, at four, and forced fumbles, at three.http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=playerbio&bio=33680

McGowan had a stand-out career in college with the Maine Black Bears from 2001 to 2004. He finished his career with 293 tackles, 7.5 sacks, seven interceptions, five fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. In addition to earning the team's Defensive Player of the Year honors as a junior, McGowan also was selected for the All-Atlantic 10 second team.http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=playerbio&bio=33680