The Carolina Panthers came into the offseason knowing they needed to improve their rush defense from a year ago – although they had the second-highest sack total in the league, the Panthers allowed the most rushing touchdowns in a season since the AFL-NFL merger and over five yards per carry.
They believe they have taken the first step towards fixing their porous run defense with their seventh overall pick on Thursday night.
A big, dominant step.
“I think what we’re trying to do is get guys who can be dominant forces,” said Panthers coach Matt Rhule after they made their selection Thursday night. “When you look at our ability to stop the run, you can point to a lot of positions. But it starts with the d-line.”
Carolina added a big piece to that d-line by selecting Derrick Brown with their first-round pick.
Brown is the sixth player from Auburn the team has drafted and the second time the team has selected a Tigers player in the first round – you’re probably familiar with the first, a quarterback in 2011. Brown is also the first defensive tackle and the third defensive player from Auburn to be drafted in the top-10 in the common draft era (Aundray Bruce, 1988 and Carlos Rodgers, 2005).
A new door has opened.
Time to work‼️ pic.twitter.com/kPsB07a01J
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) April 24, 2020
The 6-4, 326-pound defensive tackle fills a void for the Panthers after multiple defensive starters have moved on, including defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Vernon Butler along with defensive ends Mario Addison and Bruce Irvin.
During his four seasons at Auburn, Brown finished with 33 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks. Just last year for the Tigers after returning for his senior season, Brown finished with 11.5 tackles for loss and four tackles en route to winning the 2019 SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award unanimously.
Carolina will run a base 4-3 defense after the team went with a 3-4 defense a season ago under former head coach Ron Rivera in an effort to bolster their run defense, which turned out to be a double-edge sword. While the Panthers did finish with 53 sacks, they also allowed 143.5 yards on the ground per game – 29th against the run last season.
Brown has the versatility to play multiple positions on the defensive line, which is the type of player head coach Rhule wants in his defense. While the perception is that Brown is a run stopper, he says he is much more than that.
“Everyone says I’m a run stuffer, but I do it all,” Brown said. “If you watch my tape, I didn’t have a lot of sacks, but the league I played in compares a lot to the NFL. And it is just one of those things – I believe I’m a three-down player. I’m not here to sit here and make everyone like me, I’m here to do what I do.”
Photo Credit: Bill Feig/The Advocate
Rhule and Marty Hurney met Brown during the Senior Bowl. Hurney also met with Brown at the Auburn Pro Day before the rest of the pro days were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rhule and Hurney both said Brown’s character stood out to them – including how willing he was to share his accolades with those around him.
“The one thing that he said to me was, he kept talking about his d-line coach (Rodney Garner) and how much his d-line coach meant to him,” Rhule said via teleconference. “And when he talked about his defensive line coach, here’s a guy getting ready to make a bunch of money and he’s talking about how much this man’s impacted his life. I said well that must be a great d-line coach, and then at the same time, I also said this is someone who really kinds of grabbed me.”
“I really believe that people that are successful in life usually are very grateful people. They are appreciative of the people who have been in their lives and appreciative of the opportunities.”
Nowadays, more and more players have decided to skip bowl games in order to prepare for the NFL Draft. But Brown wasn’t one of those players as he decided to play in the Outback Bowl despite the Tigers not playing in the College Football Playoff; this was also after Brown, who had the opportunity to declare for the draft after his junior year, returned to Auburn to finish his degree.
His commitment to his teammates and Auburn also was a sticking point for Rhule.
“I texted Marty this morning first thing and I said hey, I’m rewatching the bowl game, and here’s a guy that came back for his senior year,” Rhule said. ” He’s a consensus top 10 pick. He goes to play in the [Outback] Bowl, he’s not playing in the playoffs, he’s playing against the University of Minnesota – he plays every snap. There’s a goal-line stand where he is just clicking as hard as he can and to me, that’s what we need right now at this time. We need guys that are dedicated to getting it done.”
Derrick Brown was awarded the CLASS award for the most outstanding senior student-athlete in Division I football. Photo Credit: Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics
Brown will get introduced to the rigors of the NFL in a major way as the NFC South will have three prolific quarterbacks within their division in Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, and now Tom Brady, who joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month.
“Those are guys I’ve watched for a long time, and now I’m going to have a chance to play ball against them,” Brown said.
Brown’s father, James Brown, is a law enforcement officer, and his mother, Martha Brown, has been a department manager at Walmart. Brown’s parents had a significant influence on him and been a big part of his life, including help mold the way he interacts with his one-year old son, Kai.
This past March, Brown announced that he and his longtime girlfriend Tayla Main are expecting their second child in October.
“It is my foundation, they instilled a lot of things into me, since the beginning,” Brown said. “I always appreciate them since Day 1, obviously. I will just continue to carry on how they raised me to be.”
That’s why it meant so much to be surrounded by them at home in Atlanta when he was drafted.
“Vegas may have gotten canceled, but you grow up and you want this experience with your family, so that didn’t get taken away. Just being able to be sit here with my family, have everyone with me, it’s a moment. It’s unreal and you get to share that with them, the people that I love the most.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to be a Panther in my life – it’s just a surreal moment. There’s no words to describe it.”
(Top Photo Via Pete Crandall)
