Panthers star Derrick Brown is poised to wreak havoc on Rams again

The Carolina Panthers went from having the worst defense by total points in NFL history to being middle of the pack in most metrics. Last year, this defense was utterly abysmal. This year, it's serviceable, and it's won the team some games.

Drafting players like Nic Scourton and Lathan Ransom has helped. Signing players like Tre'von Moehrig and Bobby Brown has helped. But the biggest thing was getting Derrick Brown, a borderline All-Pro IDL, back and healthy again.

He was arguably the star of the Week 13 upset over the Los Angeles Rams as well as the defensive MVP for the Panthers this year. This week, he could very well repeat, if not improve on, his success against the Rams.

Derrick Brown should terrorize the Rams this weekend

Derrick Brown tipped the pass that ended Matthew Stafford's long streak of no interceptions. He also sacked him and forced the fumble that essentially won the game later on. He was the star against the Rams.

Brown usually stars against everyone, tossing linemen out of the way and giving quarterbacks trouble. He is poised to do that and potentially so much more against the Rams, and he could carry the Panthers.

The defensive lineman did all that against a stout and healthy Rams offensive line. This time, he'll be facing a backup guard.

The Rams lost to the Panthers back in Week 13 in part because Derrick Brown took over.

Had the tipped ball that led to an INT. Had the fumble on Stafford to end the game. Now you take Dotson out and replace him with Dedich. It's not something to ignore.
— Blaine Grisak 💭 (@bgrisakTST) January 8, 2026

Kevin Dotson is out, and he's being replaced by Justin Dedich, which is a pretty steep drop-off. Expect Ejiro Evero to line up Brown on Dedich every single time.

That will force the Rams to try double-teams on Brown, but that might not work. The Panthers are also expected to get Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown back this week, so they'll have a full complement of IDLs to throw at the interior of the Rams.

Plus, Dedich struggles in pass-protection. Per Blaine Grisak, since Week 16, Dedich has allowed 10 pressures at right guard when in the lineup for Dotson. From Weeks 5-15, Dotson allowed 10 pressures that entire time.

The game won't be won or lost in one key spot on the field, but that is absolutely where the Panthers can try and tip the scales. If Brown can dominate or at least open things up for his fellow defensive linemen, it changes everything.

The Rams want to run the ball and run play-action off of that. The Panthers stop play-action better than any other NFL team, and if they have Brown to also stop the run tomorrow, the Rams might have a tougher time than anyone thinks.

That may not matter since there's such a talent gap, but the Panthers have to be hunting for advantages they can exploit wherever they can find them. This is a pretty big one.

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