Derrick Brown, the Carolina Panthers’ Pro Bowl defensive tackle, is working to return to full participation after a knee injury in last year’s season opener sidelined him for the remainder of the year. Last week, Brown managed just three snaps during preseason action, but he indicated that getting even those required persistent requests to head coach Dave Canales.
“I think it was a lot of pestering all week leading up to that,” Brown said. “I definitely sat on the sideline and a high anticipation the week before for the Cleveland game and didn’t practice, so to get back out there was awesome.
“It’s been, it’s been a long nine months to say the least, so, just to know what it took to get back to this point and then being able to just, you know, enjoy the moment. . . . That was a little teaser out there, but you know, I’ll take what I can get.”
Brown is known for his heavy workload on defense. In 2023 he played 940 snaps—89 percent of the team’s total—a notable achievement for any defensive lineman. The previous year he played 870 snaps (75 percent). Before his injury last season, he participated in 60 snaps against New Orleans (91 percent of that game’s total), which were his final plays until his recent return.
“It’s very hard,” Brown admitted regarding managing his current workload restrictions. “Especially coming back into it, just having certain percentages going into the days, I mean it’s been really hard. I always want to just push myself to you know where practice is so hard that you know I’m about to pass out, so that’s one of those things where I think I’ve learned. I mean, they haven’t steered me astray. So, I’m going to keep following the plan, and you know we’ll go from there.
“Definitely pushing myself right now to get back in shape, and be able to get ready to go. I don’t know, man. I just think it’s crazy to go from being nine or 10 weeks of non-weight bearing, and then trying to walk again, and then get to the point of you’re running, and then starting to try to build your stamina up. I mean, it’s tough.”
The Panthers have added depth at defensive line by signing Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown III during the offseason. This move could allow Derrick Brown more recovery time without forcing him onto every play.
Head coach Dave Canales addressed how they will manage Brown’s playing time as he recovers: “He’s a great player, so we’d love to have him out there the whole time,” Canales said. “We’ll see how he responds as we continue to push his volume, and then we’ll have to kind of just make that decision week to week in terms of how much he plays and how we’re rotating that group.
“But it is a deep group and we love all those guys; there’s veteran guys; there’s young guys that can help as well; so we’ll kind of see as we go.”
Brown remains determined about returning fully: “I always want to be on the field though,” he said with another laugh. “That’s how you hang around for a little while in the league. So I always want to be on the field but it’s going be up coaches.
“I think there’s a plan in place right now so I’ll play as much as I can. Hopefully it’s a three-quarter plan and if game’s on line in fourth quarter… let me burn up a little bit so we’ll see.”
He recalled regaining confidence in his knee early in training camp when facing teammate Damien Lewis: “When I came back on first day practice… put leg ground… it works,” Brown said.”So that was one moments where like I’m good so haven’t thought about since.”
Last season’s absence from games proved difficult for Brown personally because he couldn’t join teammates on sidelines until late in year due limited mobility:
“It sucked—to be honest—it did,” Brown said.”It was awful—I had watch game home at first until could start walking again—and that was awful.I spent lot time yelling my TV.But other than that,it was great.
“I think I just truly take everything from that adversity of injury last year,and it makes me appreciate game much more.”
