Pro Bowl defensive tackle Derrick Brown sustained a meniscus injury during the Carolina Panthers’ 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, coach Dave Canales announced on Monday.
The former Auburn All-American is getting a second opinion on the injury and how best to proceed, the Carolina coach said, although NFL Network and ESPN reported the injury had the potential to be season-ending.
“Definitely a huge loss,” Canales said about Brown’s injury. “He’s one of our best players. That’s big shoes to fill.
“But at the same time, we get players in there, I want them to know and be encouraged. If you go in and you play with great technique and you just do your job – we don’t need you to make the special plays that Derrick makes – just do your job, you help the guys on either side of you, and that’s the truth of it. If you play team football with a bunch of guys, you can have success.”
A team captain, Brown, Canales said, “embodies what we want to become as a team — the effort, the way he comes to work, how hard he tries at practice to get himself ready, how much he cares, how he plays through the end of the game all the way through in every phase whenever he’s asked to be on the field. He still gives me a great example to point the other guys to and say, ‘Guys, this is what we want to be like. This is our team. This is how we finish.’ And the guys definitely take that personally, and I have to just encourage them to say, ‘Now whoever goes in next, follow that lead. Play hard as long as you’re on the field with great effort. Chase it down no matter that the score is.’”
The Panthers have six defensive linemen on their active roster, with Brown, A’Shawn Robinson and LaBryan Ray listed as defensive ends and Jayden Peevy, Nick Thurman and Shy Tuttle listed as defensive tackles.
Carolina uses a three-player front, and Brown, Robinson and Tuttle started in the season-opening game on Sunday.
Robinson and Ray are Alabama alumni.
The Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 7A Lineman of the Year Award in 2015 and 2016 at James Clemens High School in Madison, Ray was listed as the backup at defensive end on Carolina’s depth chart.
“We have LaBryan Ray on the roster, who’s looked stronger and stronger,” Canales said. “He came back to us after an illness he had in camp, so he’s looked better and better. The next guy’s got to pop up there, and we’re counting on all those guys. … We’re counting on all those guys to play with great fundamentals and to just do their job, to do their part so we can play good defense.”
On Sunday, Brown handled his usual heavy load on the defensive line. Last season, Brown played 940 defensive snaps, the third-most among the league’s defensive linemen. Against the Saints, Brown played 60 of Carolina’s 66 defensive snaps, as well as eight special-teams plays.
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Canales said Brown’s injury “popped up on us,” with Brown going home on Sunday a “little bit sore” and waking up on Monday a lot more sore, with the severity of the injury now being evaluated.
Brown joined Carolina as the seventh selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, and he’s an oddity for the Panthers. The players – Brian Burns, D.J. Moore and Christian McCaffrey — picked by Carolina in the first round over the three drafts before they took Brown were traded by the Panthers, and 2016 first-rounder Vernon Butler left in free agency.
But Carolina ensured Brown would be back for the 2024 season by exercising its option for a fifth year on his rookie contract last offseason, then superseded that with a long-term contract extension — a four-year, $96 million deal that included a $25 million signing bonus and $59.315 million in guaranteed money.
Brown recorded 103 tackles in 17 games last season – 11 more tackles than any other NFL defensive lineman had in 2023. Since tackles became an official statistic in 2001, Brown had five more than any other defensive tackle had recorded in one season.
Brown also had two sacks, seven tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hits, one interception and five pass break-ups during his fourth NFL season, which concluded with his first trip to the Pro Bowl Games.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
