The Carolina Panthers and defensive tackle Derrick Brown have agreed to a multi-year extension, the team announced Friday. The extension is for four years and $96 million, including $63.2 million guaranteed, league sources confirmed to Athleticism.
Brown is coming off his first Pro Bowl season, which saw him total a career-high 103 tackles. He also totaled two sacks, one interception and six passes defended in 2023.
The 25-year-old spent his four NFL seasons with Carolina after the franchise selected him with the seventh pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
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‘I’m a game-breaker’: Derrick Brown was a bright spot in Panthers’ dismal season
Why it was important to make a deal now
When the Panthers were talking to Chicago last spring about trading for the No. 1 pick, the Bears asked about three players: Brown, Brian Burns and WR DJ Moore. The Panthers were not interested in dealing Brown or Burns, viewing them as the pillars of their defensive line. But after the old front office regime failed to reach a long-term deal with Burns, new general manager Dan Morgan traded him to the Giants last month for a second-round pick, a future fifth and an exchange of choices. The Panthers couldn’t afford a repeat of the Burns situation with one of their homegrown and ascendant players still in his prime. — Joe Person, Panthers writer
What this means for the Panthers defense
With Burns in New York and OLB Yetur Gross-Matos in San Francisco after leaving in free agency, the Panthers were forced to remake their defensive front on the fly. They added a big piece in veteran Jadeveon Clowney, who returned to the Carolinas on a two-year deal. The Panthers also signed DT A’Shawn Robinson and OLB DJ Wonnum in free agency. But locking up Brown was huge for defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s 3-4 scheme.
Brown broke out last season with 103 tackles, the most by a defensive lineman since the NFL began tracking the statistics in 1994. Brown was unblockable at times and looked like the disruptive force that made havoc on SEC backfields at Auburn. — Person
Required reading
(Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)