PANTHERS AGREE NEW FOUR-YEAR, $96 MILLION EXTENSION WITH DT DERRICK BROWN
The Carolina Panthers have signed star defensive tackle Derrick Brown to a significant long term extension, the team confirmed the news on Friday.
Brown was headed into the final year of his rookie deal and will play on his fifth-year option in 2024 ($11.7 million). The seventh overall pick in 2020 is coming off a brilliant 2023 season in which he made the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career.
As reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Brown is signing a four-year, $96 million extension that includes up to $63.165 million in total guaranteed money. The deal was negotiated by Brown’s agents Drew Rosenhaus, Jason Rosenhaus, and Robert Bailey.
The new deal brings Brown’s annual average salary to $24 million which trails only Chiefs’ five-time Pro Bowl DT Chris Jones ($31.75 million), Raiders’ free agent acquisition Christian Wilkins ($27.5 million), and Ravens’ All-Pro DT Justin Madubuike ($24.5 million). All three defensive tackles were on expired contracts this offseason and wound up signing significant deals over the past month. Brown is now set to stay in Carolina through the 2028 season.
The fifth-year defensive lineman had 103 tackles last season, which not only led all defensive tackles in the league but is also the most for a defensive lineman in NFL history. A cornerstone player on what’s an improving defensive unit, the Panthers were set on keeping the young defensive lineman in house for years to come. Panthers DC Ejiro Evero said last year that he thought Brown was the best run defender in the league and mentioned that the former Auburn lineman was “instrumental” to their defensive makeup.
“He’s had a heck of a year,” said Evero. “He’s been so disruptive. I don’t think it’s arguably – I think he’s the best run defender in the NFL this year. He’s done a heck of a job rushing the quarterback and creating pressures, the interception [against the New Orleans Saints in Week 13], the batted balls, there’s been so much production. The leadership. He’s been instrumental in everything we’ve done.”
Brown started all 17 games for the Panthers last season and did so while rarely coming off the field. The 25-year-old played a total of 940 snaps (89 percent of the defensive total), and played fewer than 80 percent of the snaps in only two games all season (both hot-weather games early in the year; one at home against Minnesota and another against the Dolphins at Miami).
The 6-foot-5, 320-pound lineman then went on to play at least 85 percent of the snaps in every game in 2023. He also played every snap in the Panther’s second win of the season in December, against the Falcons. Brown finished the season with a league record 103 total tackles, 57 of them solo tackles, 15 quarterback hits, 2.0 sacks, six passes defensed and one interception.
The new extension is the latest signing in what’s currently a booming market for the league’s best defensive tackles. The NFL has seen Chiefs’ DT Chris Jones, Raiders’ Christian Wilkins, Ravens’ Justin Madubuike, Jets’ Quinnen Williams, Titans’ Jeffrey Simmons, Commanders’ Daron Payne, Giants’ Dexter Lawrence, Seahawks’ Leonard Williams, and 49ers’ Javon Hargrave all sign blockbuster deals over the past 12 months.
Indianapolis Colts’ defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, who is coming off one of his best seasons and has 1 year left on his contract, reacted to news of Brown’s signing on Friday by writing on social media: “DT market [is] crazy. Y’all better start teaching your kids to put their hand in the dirt.”
Brown is the third player the Panthers have signed to a significant long-term extension this offseason, with new General Manager Dan Morgan purposely prioritizing the interior line on both defense and offense. The Panthers signed OL Robert Hunt and G Damien Lewis to new deals on March 20th with the focus being on the protection of second-year quarterback Bryce Young.
After two years without an agreement on a contract extension between franchise and player, Carolina ended up trading star edge rusher Brian Burns to the New York Giants last month but were careful not to allow anything similar to happen with Brown. The Georgia-born defensive lineman gets his new blockbuster deal one full year before he hits free agency.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Matt Trostle. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.