Derrick Brown injury update: Panthers make final call on DT's potential season-ending knee injury

The Carolina Panthers are placing defensive tackle Derrick Brown on injured reserve, the franchise announced. That means his 2024 season is over.

Brown suffered a knee injury in Saturday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints. The sense was it could be season-ending, although the Panthers didn’t yet make a call. That came down Tuesday afternoon as he heads to IR.

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“Definitely a huge loss, right? He’s one of our best players. That’s big shoes to fill,” Panthers coach Dave Canales said. “But at the same time, we’ve got players in there, I want them to know and be encouraged. If you go in, you play with great technique, and you just do your job, we don’t need you to make the special plays that Derrick makes.

“Just do your job, help the guys on either side of you and that’s the truth of it. If you can play team football with a bunch of guys, you can have success.”

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Carolina selected Derrick Brown as the No. 7 overall pick in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft after a standout career at Auburn, where he won SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. Last season, he earned the first Pro Bowl selection of his career when he totaled a career-high 103 tackles – a new NFL record for a defensive tackle – along with 15 quarterback hits last season, seven tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks.

After the year, the Panthers rewarded Brown. He secured a four-year, $96 million contract extension this offseason that guarantees him $63 million.

Along with being a force on the field in the interior of Carolina’s defensive line, Brown is also a captain for the first time in his career. He wore the ‘C’ on his jersey for the first time on Sunday along with quarterback Bryce Young, safety/special teams ace Sam Franklin, and linebacker Shaq Thompson.

“Ever since I’ve been here, I’ve always looked at Shaq as the captain. So to see my face next to his, I mean it’s pretty awesome,” Brown said.

Kaiden Smith contributed to this article.