Panthers rookie defensive tackle Derrick Brown has been given the NFLPA’s Community MVP award for Week 6 thanks to his charitable efforts.
Brown led an initiative to give underprivileged Charlotte kids $50,000 worth of Halloween costumes plus the priceless, timeless gift that is free pizza.
Week 6 #CommunityMVP and @Panthers rookie @DerrickBrownAU5 made sure underprivileged Charlotte kids had a spook-tacular Halloween, distributing pizza and more than $50,000 in costumes & accessories during a drive-thru event. đź”—: https://t.co/drH63b0Xz3 pic.twitter.com/Y8ffeuzji9
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) October 23, 2020
Santa Claus stuff. Good for him.
As for Brown’s work on the field, so far he’s been pretty much what we expected. First and foremost, Brown’s power has helped make him a tremendous run stuffer. While he’s made some rookie mistakes, he’s flashing consistently and is currently tied with Aaron Donald for the most tackles for a loss (six) at his position this season.
Brown’s run defense was never in question, though. Whether or not he turns out to be worth a top-10 pick will depend on how much of a pass-rushing threat he can develop into. On the surface, it might look like he’s struggling in this area, as Brown has just one quarterback hit and no sacks so far.
That only tells part of the story, though. Sacks and hits are volatile stats and don’t accurately reflect just how much a lineman can impact the game. After a very quiet start to the season, Brown (and the rest of Carolina’s front-seven) has been generating much more pressure lately. He was able to get several of them on Nick Foles last week, including one that helped contribute to the Jeremy Chinn interception.
There’s still work to be done, of course. Brown will never be the supervillain-level pass rushing threat that Aaron Donald is. However, if he can consistently become a productive, better-than-average one it will go a long way towards justifying that high pick.
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