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Panthers defensive stud named among best NFL players returning from injury

General manager Dan Morgan did plenty when it came to adding talent to the NFL’s worst defense in 2024. The return of a healthy Derrick Brown would be huge.
Russell Baxter|
Oct 29, 2023; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown (95) runs on to the field at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Oct 29, 2023; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown (95) runs on to the field at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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Carolina Panthers

In his first four seasons in the National Football League, Carolina Panthers’ defensive tackle Derrick Brown missed a total of one game. It was a Week 15 clash with the Buffalo Bills at Orchard Park that resulted in a 31-14 loss. In both 2022 and 2023, the seventh overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft was a 17-game starter.

In ’23, he enjoyed a monster campaign as the former Auburn University star finished second on the team with 103 tackles, to go along with a pair of sacks, one interception, and six passes defensed—earning his first Pro Bowl invitation.

This past season, in Week 1 at the Superdome, Brown had totaled three tackles before going down with a knee injury that would cost him the remainder of the 2024 season. The Panthers wound up being a total disaster on the defensive side of the ball, allowing the most total yards and rushing yards in the league. Dave Canales’s club also gave up 534 points, the most by a team in a single season in NFL history.

Derrick Brow
Jan 7, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown (95) reacts in the third quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Sam Robinson of Yardbarker put together a list in which he chose 32 “significant NFL players” that are on the comeback trail in 2025 after injuries spoiled this past season, and Brown was obviously included.

“Ejiro Evero’s run of rides on the coaching carousel despite being a defensive coordinator on bad team stopped this year, as the Panthers crashed into last place defensively in 2024. Carolina's minimal effort to replace Brian Burns indeed failed, and Jaycee Horn’s second-team All-Pro season did not move the needle for the unit.

“The group saw its front-seven centerpiece, however, go down in Week 1,” added Robinson. “Brown suffered a meniscus tear plays into his fifth season. The Panthers are aiming for the recently extended defensive tackle to return by Week 1 of the 2025 season.”

Brown has some new teammates up front in Tershawn Wharton, Bobby Brown III, and rookie Cam Jackson. There are also some other additions elsewhere in free agent pickups such as safety Tre’von Moehrig and linebacker Patrick Jones II, as well as rookie pass-rushers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen. A healthy Derrick Brown could bring this new-look defense together.

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Russell Baxter
RUSSELL BAXTER

Russell S. Baxter has been writing and researching the game of football for more than 40 years, and on numerous platforms. That includes television, as he spent more than two decades at ESPN, and was part of shows that garnered five Emmy Awards. He also spent the 2015 NFL season with Thursday Night Football on CBS/NFLN.