Panthers sign Pro Bowler Derrick Brown to multi-year extension

Brown’s breakout season in 2023 came after Evero arrived and implemented a 3-4 defense, a departure from the 4-3 scheme that Brown saw steady success in for his three prior years. His evolution was impressive. He hit career-high season totals in tackles, run stops and quarterback hits with three games remaining, and that resulted from a system that called for him to react to the block first — run or pass — before transitioning into his pass rush.

But that’s not to say his presence in the 4-3 scheme was middling. The 2020 first-round draft pick out of Auburn, in fact, told reporters at one point late in the 2023 season that he thought he impacted the game more in the 4-3 scheme.

Even if there was a hint of false modesty in there, it was revealing nonetheless.

“To be honest, I feel like I played better last year,” Brown told reporters before his Week 16 matchup with Jacksonville in December. “But it’s one of those things where I feel like I’ve been able to be a big part of the defense and, you know, just do my job.”

The fact that he’s shown an ability to be proficient at multiple facets of the game — and in multiple schemes — aligns with the Panthers’ thinking that he was too valuable to not lock down quickly. It also is an encouraging sign for a Panthers defense whose coordinator is regularly in the mix for head coaching opportunities. (Morgan alluded to that possibility at the NFL combine: “I don’t think it’ll be long before (Evero) is a head coach.”)

“I just think getting familiar with that (4-3) defense (in 2020-22), being able to control where the ball was going in the middle, that was a lot different,” Brown said. “I mean, I feel like I’m doing well in this defense, too, but I feel like this is really my first time getting my feet wet in this defense. So do I think there’s another level I can go to in this defense? I do.”

Brown is a first-round pick the Panthers couldn’t give up

Another important point to consider when contextualizing what Brown’s return means: He will not be part of a troubling Panthers trend of developing their first-round picks with aplomb and then letting them peak elsewhere.

Examples of this are littered everywhere in the NFL. Think Christian McCaffrey in 2017, who was a legitimate MVP contender and was an overtime period away from leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl. Think DJ Moore in 2018, who had a career year in Chicago this season. Burns provided the latest instance, when the 2019 first-round draft pick and fan-favorite headed for the Meadowlands this free agency.

In all of these departures, the Panthers saw something in return. (Whether or not those returns were enough is a different story.) But there is something to be said about the Panthers choosing to hold onto someone they molded — and not waiting until the lure of free agency to negotiate (read: Frankie Luvu). It also sends a signal to the rest of the league, perhaps, that stars will be taken care of in Carolina in this new front-office generation.