No matter what the new nomenclature for the Carolina Panthers’ defense calls him, Derrick Brown said it wouldn’t change his mindset.
“I’m still a D-tackle, man,” Brown told the NFL team’s official website. “I mean, we’ve got fronts that might look different, but you know, I still think like a D-tackle.
“You just have to be able to do it all. That’s all. I’m not even looking for the title, so I still think like a DT at the end of the day.”
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Frank Reich took over as head coach for the Panthers this year, and he brought in Ejiro Evero as defensive coordinator, the position he held last season with the Denver Broncos.
Under Evero, Carolina has changed its base defense from a 4-3 to a 3-4. But as one of the Panthers’ three defensive linemen, Brown will do a lot of the things he did as one of the four, said Todd Wash, Carolina’s new defensive-line coach.
“He’s going to line up in some of the exact, same spots that he has before – over the guard, over the center,” Wash said on Wednesday. “We’re just adding another little alignment for him where he goes out and lines up over a tackle at times. But for the most part, his alignments are the same. The biggest change is going to be the technique.
“They’ve been in a true attack front as a 4-3, and we’re still attacking, but it’s not exactly 100 percent penetration, so he’s going to line up in the same areas as he has been, except for now we’re just changing a couple of techniques that we feel we can get a little bit more two-gap out of him, and he definitely has that ability.”
A unanimous All-American at Auburn and the seventh player picked in the 2020 NFL Draft, Brown reached a career high with 67 tackles in this third season. He also batted down seven passes and had his first interception in 2022.
“Everybody out there understands, he’s a great run defender,” Wash said. “He’s big, strong, stout, and he can play all the positions across the board. The biggest thing we’re going to start working on is the pass-rush side of things. He’s a big athlete. He’s 330 pounds, but he has the ability and speed and explosiveness to get on the edges of guards, so that’s the biggest thing we’re working on.
“But before that can even happen, we talk about in our room that you have to earn the right to rush the quarterback, so we got to do a good job of stopping the run, and then, hopefully, we’re going to be able to get Derrick even better than he is right now versus the pass.”
Brown has recorded six sacks in his three NFL seasons.
Wash said Brown could play any of the line spots in Carolina’s new defensive look, including end.
“For the defensive end, what we’re looking for is somebody that is big and strong and long who can play square to the line of scrimmage,” Wash said. “That’s the biggest key with our package.”
Carolina has reached Phase 3 of its offseason program, when teams are allowed to conduct 10 days of organized team practice activity, often referred to as OTAs. The Panthers completed their third OTA on the field on Thursday.
Only non-contact drills are allowed during OTAs, so Brown thinks he’ll learn how well he knows Carolina’s new defense when training camp arrives.
“Just adapting, learning, re-learning the plan,” Brown said. “It’s one thing to work offseason practice against bags and stuff, but to be able to get live bodies, man, that’s what it’s all about. You know, I think the big thing for us is getting this new defense in, getting that chemistry with our coaches. And you know, of course, I mean, that’s the big thing. We’ve had good OTAs, so to be honest, I look forward to rolling into camp with that.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
