The Carolina Panthers are looking for more sacks this season—and some could come from a powerful, but unlikely source.
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero spoke with reporters on Thursday morning, just hours before their penultimate practice for Week 1. And with so many questions about their lack of presence off the edge, he brought up defensive tackle Derrick Brown as a possible purveyor of the pass rush.
“Derrick is very underrated as a rusher,” Evero said. “I think if you really go back and watch the tape in the pass downs, he’s affecting the quarterback. It’s a challenge for all of us and I know he’s taking it very likely that he wants to transition those more into sacks.”
Brown is coming off one of the most productive campaigns by a defensive lineman in league history, as he amassed a new single-season record of 103 tackles at the position. The first-time Pro Bowler, per Pro Football Focus, also led all defensive lineman this past year in stops (53).
But the numbers didn’t really show up in the pass-rushing department—for both him and the rest of the Carolina defense. Brown, who has never really been a sack artist at the pro level, got to the opposing quarterback just twice while the Panthers notched a league-low 27 takedowns.
Evero, however, believes the 6-foot-5, 320-pounder has the juice to fill that column up.
“In my opinion, arguably the best run player in the NFL,” he continued about Brown. “And, like I said earlier, the pressures were there, he affects the quarterback. He’s a hard man to block—run or pass, one-on-one. But at the end of the day, we wanna translate those into more sack production. I think this guy can get eight to 10 sacks this season.”
Brown enters 2024 with 8.0 career sacks over four NFL seasons.
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