Has another Panthers star been snubbed out of ESPN's 2025 position rankings?
ESPN continued their annual offseason rankings on Tuesday, publishing the results from their survey on the NFL's best defensive tackles. And according to league executives, coaches and scouts, Carolina's Derrick Brown is not a top-10 player at his position.
Instead, he landed in the "Honorable Mention" group—alongside the likes of Las Vegas' Christian Wilkins, Denver's Zach Allen, Miami's Zach Sieler and Los Angeles' Kobie Turner.
Here's what a league exec stated about Brown, per ESPN senior national writer Jeremy Fowler:
"When he's healthy, he's near the top. Elite run stopper with some pass-rush upside."
Brown was not healthy for the entirety of 2024, where he sustained a season-ending knee injury in the team's Week 1 matchup against the New Orleans Saints. Without Brown for 16 of their 17 games, Carolina's defense went on to allow the most points in NFL history and a league-high 179.8 rushing yards per contest.
The 27-year-old spoke about his plans to return after the Panthers' final session of mandatory minicamp last month.
"I expect to be out there in training camp," he told reporters on June 12. "Load management, and hopefully in the next few weeks, I get cleared. So that's the goal and then at that point, it's just getting back in football shape and being able to go out there and play with the team."
Prior to his lost 2024 campaign, Brown tallied 103 tackles in 2023—a single-season record for defensive linemen—and was named to his first career Pro Bowl.
Brown is now the second Panther to miss the cut on ESPN's positional rankings, joining Chuba Hubbard—who was not featured as a top-10 player nor in the "Honorable Mention" section for running backs on Monday.
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