Panthers first-round anchor and 2024 Pro Bowler who bounced back from a season-ending knee injury to have a top-tier 2025.
Derrick Brown has been the interior backbone of Carolina's defense since the Panthers made him a first-round pick in 2020. A devastating knee injury wiped out most of his 2024 season, but Brown returned in 2025 and picked up right where he left off, reaffirming his status as one of the league's premier run-stuffing defensive tackles.
Path to the league
Brown starred at Auburn, where he was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. The Carolina Panthers made him their first-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Career highlights
Brown set a single-season record for a defensive lineman with 103 total tackles in 2023, a performance that earned him his first Pro Bowl selection. In 2024, Carolina signed him to a four-year, $96 million extension, cementing him as a cornerstone of the defense.
2025 season recap
Brown suffered a knee injury requiring meniscus surgery in Week 1 of the 2024 season and missed the rest of that year. He returned for the 2025 season, working back through the preseason before a full comeback that placed his production among the top tier of defensive tackles league-wide.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Derrick Brown (American football)
- Pro Football Reference: Derrick Brown
Statistics
2025 season and career2025 Season · Defense
17 games played▶Defense · career
| Year | Team | GP | TOT | SOLO | SACK | INT | FF | FR | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | panthers | 17 | 73 | 33 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 2024 | panthers | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | panthers | 17 | 103 | 57 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2022 | panthers | 17 | 67 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 2021 | panthers | 16 | 41 | 27 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2020 | panthers | 16 | 34 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Defensive Tackle
- Group
- defense
- College
- Auburn
- Hometown
- Sugar Hill, GA, USA
- Age
- 28
- Status
- active
