TURNAROUND: Derrick Brown LEADS Carolina Panthers Dramatic Defensive Improvement

TURNAROUND: Derrick Brown LEADS Carolina Panthers Dramatic Defensive Improvement

2024 was a historic disaster for the Panthers defense. 2025 has been a big bounceback. But what grade are they deserving heading into this by week? I’ll tell you right here on Locked On Panthers. You are Locked On Panthers, your daily Panthers podcast, part of the Locked On. Your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of the Lockdown Panthers podcast, a part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’m your host as always, Julian Council, talking Carolina Panthers with you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and yes, of course, Friday, your team every day. That’s our motto here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks for watching the show right here on YouTube and listening wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Today’s episode of Black Tom Panthers brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fan.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. back here on a Friday where the Panthers are not active during week 14 of the NFL season. It finally came the by-week and one that they absolutely needed to have as they’ve had injuries across the offensive line all season long and they were missing guys like Tron Merrick, albeit due to suspension on Sunday, ended up set winning against the Rams and also missing JC Horn who will be back next Sunday down in New Orleans. So, an excellent time for them sitting at 7 and six, a half game out of first place in the NFC South to get a little RNR this week and get back and ready to go for those four games to finish out the season where they could potentially be NFC South division champs for the first time since 2015. But yesterday on the show, I gave you my grades looking at the offense, quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver, offensive line. Every single position on the offense gave out those marks yesterday. Today, let’s take a look at the defense. We’re talking defensive tackles, talking edge rushers, talking about safeties, corners, linebackers, every single piece of the defense. So, let’s go ahead and start off by looking at the defensive tackle grades. The Panthers last year could not stop the run. Over 3,000 yards they allowed on the ground. That does not happen if Derrick Brown does not tear his meniscus week one against the Saints. I think that’s pretty fair to say. Maybe they’re not a great run stopping team, but they’re not historically the worst in franchise history and one of the worst in the NFL if they have Derek Brown. And what do you know? This season having DB back makes a world of difference for Carolina. He has 45 tackles this season and a career-high four sacks. Something that Todd Wash, the defensive line coach, said he wanted to do here in Carolina a couple years ago. uh that has finally happened with Derek Brown getting to that point where he is a guy who can actually rush the passer and get him down on the ground as well. Like he’s been so good in that department this year. And I look at it, I don’t really see what he doesn’t do. That’s excellent. You go back to Sunday, he gets his bid up there, tips the ball, it’s intercepted by Nick Scott preventing points going on the board for the Rams. And he closes out the game with the strip sack, which I believe was the biggest moment of his Panthers career. And there have not been a lot of moments where you look at us, oh man, Derek really changed the fortunes of the franchise on Sunday. 10 and a half point home dogs going up against the Super Bowl favorites, the MVP favorite at that time. and Matthew Stafford and you make those two monstrous plays. It’s not like the Panthers defense really stopped the Rams from getting up and down the field. They had eight true possessions and they punted one time all day. It was the three turnovers in two of those that were created by Derek Brown that were the difference as Carolina got that huge upset win. you look at PFF and we’re going to talk a lot about the PFF grades today because defensively when looking at True Media, they don’t always have a lot of defensive stats like they have offensively because the NFL and football in general has become an offensive game. So, it’s kind of annoying that I got to lean on this, but also I’m going to lean on what I’ve seen in my own opinions as well. But PFF has graded Derek as the 11th best interior defensive lineman in the NFL so far out of 129 guys. Aan Robinson as well has been really good. He feels like to me the lost man heading into the season. We talked a lot about Derek Brown coming back. We talked about Turk Wharton and Bobby Brown the third coming in from Kansas City and LA and the potential that those guys could be high impact players as they were clearly priority free agents for Carolina and must ads after what we saw last year when Derek went out. It was just Aan, Deshawn Williams, LeBron Ray, um anybody else Nick Thurman who stepped up in there. uh they weren’t good. The Panthers had one of the worst, if not the worst, defensive line in football last year. And Aan didn’t grade out well when you look at the season. I think in large part because of what was around him. But I thought he had a good season considering all the factors that played into how poorly Carolina played up front. He was not the problem. And so far this season, he’s been good. He had he has 46 tackles so far, three sacks after having four and a half or five and a half rather last year. That was a careerh high. He has two and a half tackles for loss. He’s the 32nd rated interior defensive lineman according to PFF. So you have a top 11 guy in Derek Brown who I think is really a top five defensive tackle so far this season. Then you have someone who’s right there in the top 32 as well in Aan and those are your starting interior defensive linemen. That is solid for Carolina because in years past it was really just Derek and whoever they could find. Now it’s Derek and Aan who was a second round pick coming out of Alabama. Has plenty of experience in Detroit, in LA, and now here in his second year with Carolina. He has meant a lot to this team. So do not forget about what Aan Robinson has been able to do here. I felt like going into the season that if Bobby Brown and Turk Wharton could have the same impact that Damen Lewis and Robert Hunt had last year on the offensive line, this year with the defensive line that the Panthers like last year would be dramatically improved up front. Now, obviously Derrick Brown being a piece of that is important. So, let’s look at DB in a way that we look at Taylor Bowden. Now, Dererick Brown, Taylor Botton, not the same level of player. I understand that. But as far as like the consistency, DB is that, Taylor Motton’s that you needed to find some other guys who could help elevate that room. And that was the hope when they brought in Turk and they brought in Bobby. Now, if you look at PFF, they’re saying that neither one of them has been really good at all. They have Turk with a 40.8 PFF grade. They have Bobby with a 53.1. And maybe my eyes have deceived me because I haven’t had any feeling that they’ve been bad this year. I think that Turk’s actually been pretty solid. I think that Bobby has fit in nicely as well. I haven’t sat there and looked at it as like, “Oh, these guys, they can’t play.” I I haven’t had that thought. That’s not what I’ve seen. And when I said at the top of the show, we’re going to go over a lot of PFF grades because there’s not a lot of information out there, at least that I have access to that’s going to give me a good indication of who’s playing well, who’s not. I’m watching the games. I’m looking at the defensive line and I’m seeing that they’re not getting gashed every single week. I’m seeing that this is not a liability of a unit like it was last year in 2024 when Dererick wasn’t out there. with Derek now of Aan and then these two I think that they’ve been solid. So the grades say they’re not playing well. Y’all let me know what you think because I don’t think that Bobby or Turk have been bad players. I think that they have obviously been a positive. They’ve been an additive to what they’ve done so far this year. And you just look at the rushing defensive numbers and it’s a whole unit that goes into it. It’s not just the interior defensive line. It’s the edge rushers. It’s the linebackers. It’s the corners. It’s the safeties. But looking at the first guys who really have to be able to hold things in the middle of this defense because if you can’t stop the run, you can’t stop anything. Those aren’t my words. Those are JC Horn’s words. They’re allowing 4.5 yards per rush so far this season, which is bottom 10 in the NFL, but they give up 5.2 last year. That was the worst in the league. Overall, the Panthers are just 26th in total rush EPA. Um, but they’re 18th in success rate against the run. Last year, they were dead last in each category. So, while this may not still be a good rushing defense, this is a much better rushing defense that we have seen in years past. And then even recently, like what games are you looking at where you felt like they didn’t do a good job? Week one against Jacksonville, against the Bills. Other than that, the Rams I guess on Sunday they didn’t do that well against the run, but they didn’t. I don’t think it was like a poor effort, but it wasn’t their best. Obviously, in the first half against Atlanta, in the weeks a couple a couple weeks ago against Bjan Robinson, they struggled. But then in the second half, they basically pitched a shut out. And there was those weeks against Miami, against Dallas, against New York where they were giving up nothing until they got gashed by Buffalo. I think they’ve been pretty good. So, the advanced numbers and even the ba basic stats don’t back that up as far as how Carolina’s been able to stop the run. But looking at this defensive tackle unit overall, Derek Brown was having a Pro Bowl season yet again. Aan Robinson has been really solid and I do think they have gotten good impacts from both Turk Horton and from Bobby Brown the third. So I’m going to give Defensive Tackle Group a B right now when looking at their first 13 games this season in 2025 and they will be paramount to the success down the stretch here in his final four games of the year. Edge rushers came into the year with concerns about them, but was excited about the youth movement there and now looking at it through 13 weeks and it is not the best. We’ll go over that here in just a moment on locked on Panthers. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. Live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up, or the momentum flips after a turnover. FanDuel lets you jump into the moment. Live spreads and money lines adjust instantly. Player props update as guys heat up. You can bet next touchdown scores, drive results, totals, and more. It keeps you locked into every snap, every drive, every possibility. And with the Panthers not playing this weekend, what a perfect Sunday to kick your feet up and bet over with FanDuel. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season and this Sunday, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. The Panthers interior defensive line after being a liability last year has become a strength in large part because Derek Brown is back, but also the improved play of Aan Robinson who was solid up front and the additions of both Bobby Brown the third and Turk Wharton. The AD rush group was not good last year and I had concerns heading into the season even though Carolina did the right thing on night two of the draft. They used the second round pick that they traded up for to select Nick Scorton out of Texas A&M. Then the third round, another trade. They selected Princely Mommy Ellen out of Miss. It made sense. You had young guys that you need to bring in to be the future. Jade Devon Clanos on the roster at that point in time, but he was never going to be the future here in Carolina. You had signed Patrick Jones the second to come in for the next two seasons, but he was not necessarily that highlevel kind of player who could be an impact player week in and week out based off what he had done in his career in Minnesota. DJ Wam had shown you some pass rushing juice at the end of last season after missing the first nine games due to complications with a blood clot, but you needed to actually find some guys who could end up being your cornerstones on the edge moving forward. And I applaud Dan Morgan and Brandt Tillis, the scouting department, Dave Canel, everybody involved in the organization for going out there and getting two very obvious picks there and first team all SEC players in Scorton and Umam Yellen. But I told y’all back then and as we continue to evaluate the group after they get rid of Clowney and looking at it that it was going to take some time before Scorton and Mannellen ended up being those highle type of guys. And we have even seen recently over the last month or so that Nick Gordon’s becoming a leader in that locker room and he’s becoming kind of a force off the edge, but he’s not there yet. And Princeley also is not there yet. And I did not think that was going to happen this year. Now there’s four games left and I have been wrong plenty of times. Lord knows, y’all know. We’ll see if that ticks up moving forward. But based off of the season, not a lot of evidence to suggest that this is going to be a group that dramatically improves as the Panthers are going on this four-game hunt to get into the playoffs. And honestly, the numbers I’m going to go over, it is impressive that this team is sitting here at seven and six and with an opportunity where if they win the right three games or win their final four, they’re division champs and they’re going to the playoffs. It’s remarkable they’re even in this spot considering that they have no pass rush at all. Awful. Now, San Francisco is ahead of them and the Niners are in a position to go to the playoffs as well. So, it’s not necessarily a prerequisite, but if you want to be a Super Bowl title contender like I guess the Broncos are, it’s hard to argue at this point in time you want to have a sick pass rush. Look at what the Eagles had last year and why they were able to beat Kansas City this time around. They got after Mahomes’s ass in that Super Bowl. And Carolina has not really done that this year. They rank last in the NFL in PFF pressure percentage at 27.7%. That is atrocious. It’s not good, man. It’s not good. If you look at Pro Football Reference in their numbers, it’s even lower. So, I’m going to spare you. Whatever they’re looking at there, I’m we’re just not going to go over those numbers. Panthers are 29th in sack percentage at 4.3% on opponent dropbacks. and they are tied for 30th with 18 sacks on the season. Looking at those 18 sacks, only four and a half have come from the primary edge rushing group they have right now. And Scortton and Uman Mellen and DJ won. Nick has three. Princely has one and a half. DJ has zero. Goose egg. They’re paying him too much to be that veteran in that room to get all these starts to not give them anything off the edge. And based off of those numbers and the fact that he missed a lot of time last year and I understand serious health scare there that was the reason behind it. I can’t imagine that past these next four potentially five, six, seven, eight games that he will be back in Carolina next season. Looking at the defensive tackles though, they have eight and a half. So that just gives you a nice inclination of just how little they’re getting out of the edge rush group as far as just pressure percentage-wise and sackwise. Oh, speaking of pressure percentage, Nick Horton has a 9.2 pressure percentage. DJ won of 8.1, which ranks 55th and 59th, respectively, among 61 qualifying outside linebackers per True Media. Princeley did not qualify, but he has 8%. So 9.2, 8.1, 8% pressure percentage from the top three edge rushers here heading into the final four weeks. Not great. So for comparison’s sake, Brian Burns, not this season. Rookie Brian Burns had an 11.4% pressure percentage and a 7.5 sack rate. So he had 7.5 sacks that year. So unless Nick just goes off in the next four weeks, which is possible, neither he or Princely will match that total, which I think is fine. Brian was a guy picked in the middle of the first round and Nick was taken late in the second and then Princely was taken in the third. So, they should not have the same expectations as rookies as a first round pick will have. But moving forward, you’re going to need more from them. But to their credit, they’ve actually been pretty good against the run this year, at least better than they were last year. Nick has a 64.5 run defense grade according to PFF. DJ has a 64.9. Uh, so I like to see that. Uh, Princeley has not graded out well against run, which not surprising. That was not necessarily what he was known for heading into the league. that was going to be an area that he was going to have to improve upon. But from having conversations with him in the scrums in the locker room, the guy has a good head on the shoulder. He’s really leaned on some of the vets in that locker room and he understands like this is a job. He’s got to work on his craft. I’m not worried about Princeley at all. But so far, I I hate to do this, but their jobs are well number one in this defensive scheme to stop the run. They’re doing that for the most part, but it’s also to get after the passer and to not be contributing in that manner. I’m going to give him a D. D plus. I I got to get I’ll be nice. D plus. It hasn’t it hasn’t been great. I hadn’t I didn’t have a lot of expectations for it to be good this year as far as the pass rush and what they’re going to get out of this unit. But they’ve had areas where they’ve looked good and there’s been moments this year, but overall it’s been a below average outside linebacker group, which again I don’t think should have surprised anybody who’s really paying attention heading into the season. Linebacker Trevon Wallace, Christian Roseboom, those have been the guys. The plan going into the season was for it to be Trevan, Christian, and Josie Juul, who we were told after Juel was shockingly waved right before training camp back at the end of July, there’s a possibility he could be back if he was able to get over his concussion symptoms that were bothering him from all the way back in December. So, seven, eight months of him just dealing with that. God, God bless him. Um, no update there on Josie Jules, so I don’t think that’s going to happen. But Trevan and Christian, they’ve had their ups and downs. Now with Trevon Wallace, he started eight games last year and so far I think he’s missed two this year. So he’s now finally played a full season as a starter in the NFL. We we’re basically in his second year looking at just starting uh reps and snaps in the NFL. So you got to give him a little bit of grace, which I’m going to do. He has a 55.3 PFF grade. Christian has a 51 uh.0. So right there on the dot 51 PFF grade. Um, Roseboom leads a team with 91 tackles. Wallace has 58. Meanwhile, and this is a conversation I want to touch on this briefly, Shaq Thompson, he is the sixth highest graded linebacker according to PFF. And I’ve seen fans look at that, oh, we should have had Shaq back here in Carolina and all this. Like, guys, y’all, come on. Let’s Did we forget he played in six games the last two years? He had a awful broken leg on Monday night against the Saints back in week two of 2023. Then last year in the second half he tore his Achilles and that’s also been a guy that has dogged the playing surface here and really called out the owner. I don’t think David Ter was gonna be willing to want to come back. And I I get that Dan and Dave and Brandt have, you know, full reigns of the whole operation, but we we can’t kid ourselves and pretend that David Sepher is not still an active participant in this whole enterprise here in Carolina. So, that may have played a role, but also mainly he was over 30. He has had two significant injuries and one of them with the Achilles there that you really you don’t want to invest in anybody after that. He went to a place that made a lot of sense. It was going to be very obviously a winning football team. He had knows the scheme. Having been here with Shawn McDermott before when he was a DC in Carolina, it’s been a decade now, but still, it made sense that he could go there and have success. They already had Matt Milano, uh, Bernard, and he’s had injuries, too. Shaq has only played eight games so far this season, so it’s not like he’s been healthy every single week, but he’s also not like Rose Boom and Trevan been healthy. The plan was to have Roseboom, Trevan, and Josie. It did not work out with Josie being healthy and linebackers injuries have played this team again this year, but not nearly as badly as it did last year when they didn’t have Josie for a large portion of the season. Of course, lost Shaq after four weeks. So, yeah, I’m happy for Shaq, but let’s not pretend that Shaq Thompson didn’t have the injuries that he had and that it really wasn’t going to be something that Dan Morgan wanted to do by bringing him back. You had a rookie had just drafted and there’s another vet who was already a scheme fit having been with Jerro in Denver a couple years ago. Let’s not rewrite history. Be happy for Shaq. It did not work out for him the last two years, but overall great for this linebacker unit. I think they’ve been below average. So, I’m going to give them a C minus. Cornerbacks and safeties. The grains have not been high for at least linebackers that second level of the defense, but the back level, I think those guys have actually looked pretty good so far this season. We’ll talk about that here in just a moment on locked on Panthers. Last but not least, let’s take a look at the Panthers secondary and how they performed so far this year. I have to say this, both Mike Jackson and JC Horn are having really solid seasons this year. JC has a career-high five interceptions heading into the season. He only had five total. And look, a lot of it’s luck. A lot of it’s being in the right place, right time. You got to make your own luck in life and of course in this league. The guy’s a ball hot. It just hadn’t happened. And let’s understand those first three years he only played 22 out of the possible 51 games. Last year only missed two games. This year he’s only missed that one game with concussion. Of course, go ahead and knock on Wood and not jinx him because it’s been really good to see JC finally be healthy and just be the dog that he is. Like that’s the thing you knew as a rookie those first three games. Oh man, this guy’s good. And he breaks his foot. Then after that he was good that second year. Then you had the unfortunate wrist and then after that all the injuries that happened there. Like you knew it wasn’t a matter of ability. It was just availability with JC. And once he’s been available, he has shown that he is one of the best corners in the NFL. And he was for a period of time a week earlier this year the highest paid DB in history of the National Football League. And at the time for a lot of people around the league they probably looked around it’s like ah really Carolina but then you watch the season it’s like ah I see and especially on Monday night those two interceptions that he had on Brock Pury dog. So looking at him again careerh high five interceptions that is tied this season with the Bears Nan Wright for the most among quarterbacks in the NFL. Looking at Mike Jack he also has three interceptions in his own right. That makes Horn and Jackson the top duo in the NFL with eight interceptions so far this season. Jackson is that’s cornerback duo because you look at Wright and then Kevin Buyer I believe is up in Chicago as well. Those guys would then be the top duo because I think they have like 11 combined. Um but that safety and corner looking at cornerback duos Mike Jackson Horn eight top in the league as far as ball hawks. Thieves Avenue. Had someone hit me up in my DMs over on Twitter at Julian Councils asking me, “Is Thieves Avenue back?” Apparently the last three weeks, five interceptions, pick six. Uh, they may be back. Mike Jack and JC are doing it. And you look at Mike, he had he is the highest graded um corner on the team. And PFF for whatever reason does not like JC Horn. And that’s one of the things when I look at the grades, you can’t tell me Mike Jackson who’s 18th highest graded corner while JC is 65th. You cannot tell me that Mike Jackson has been that much better than JC so far this season. I think JC’s been a better player and is a better player. The way the Panthers value them is very clearly that JC is the guy and Mike is another guy. He’s a Jag plus for them. Just a guy but more than that. Um it’s weird. You look at the numbers passer rating allowed. Mike is allowed a 69.7 when targeted. JC is 74.5. So looking at that mark. All right. I see both of them though they rank in the top 10 among players who have played at least 50 snaps. Those are corners who played at least 50 snaps. So two guys again, eight interceptions combined, both having solid passer ratings when targeted in the top 10 among corners who are actually getting burned in the league this season. That’s a solid duo. And I just think back to, oh, should the Panthers go get um Jaylen Ramsey? Should they go get Jier Alexander? All the questions. And I was thinking to myself like damn y’all like you really trying to get rid of Mike Jack like that and maybe you’re looking at corner I at the nickel. Maybe you wanted to get a a slot guy. I don’t think any one of those either one of those guys are going to come and play slot. The Panthers told y’all back on was it March 10th? Whenever the legal negotiating period was that well clearly JC was not going anywhere. He already had a fifth year option, but they love JC and they showed you later that night they like Mike Jackson too and he was going to be their starter this year and looked like he’s going to be their starter again next year because he’s played well yet again here in 2025. So, a ton of credit to him. The one area that you do have questions about is the Nickelback spot. Sean Smith Wade had been starting there then against Atlanta and against San Francisco. Cory Thornton, the undrafted free agent out of Louisville got the starts and he broke his leg in that game against 49ers. shot to play last week because the injury to both Corey but also JC uh being injured and looking at the year so far for him he’s 61.9 PF grade and a 62.7 coverage grade so he’s going to be out there he’s has experience I don’t think there’s that much concern but they clearly felt like they had a better option at least in those two matchups against Atlanta and against San Francisco in Cory Thornton than they had in shotmith way but he will be important for the Panthers down the stretch as well overall grade for this group. Going to give them a B+. Safety, not going to spend too much time here just looking at their numbers so far PF wise. Trarevon Merig 64.6 PFF grade, but the run defense grade solid 74.2. And I said earlier when looking at the defensive run stopping numbers. It’s not just the interior guys. It’s the corners. It’s the linebackers, the edge rushers. It’s especially been the safeties as Triron has been right up there. Uh 57.7 coverage grade. Not that surprising. that was the one area you looked at where you thought maybe he’s not going to be that great in that area as we’ve seen the linebackers have struggled against tight ends and also has Terron Mer. Nick Scott been pretty solid 62.6 grade so far this year for Carolina. Uh Lean Ransom the rookie has a 55.5 grade so not the best but 85.2 run defense grade which I found interesting but the coverage that’s been the issue. 44.4 coverage grade. Overall I think these guys have been improved. Uh, I’m interested to see maybe Demi Richardson who got a lot of play on Sunday because Javon was uh out due to suspension. I’m curious if maybe he gets to play a little more. That was a guy that we thought was going to have more of an impact than he’s had so far this season. While we didn’t think Nick Scott was going to be starting every single game this year at safety overall, I’m going to give these guys a B minus grade for the room. Looking at the defense total, there’s plenty of areas where they can clearly improve at linebacker, off the edge, even sometimes in the back end. Like, they can improve in some of these areas. It’s not a perfect defense, but it has been a dramatically improved defense. Why? Because Derrick Brown is playing. And when you have a an elite player like him, he makes a difference. He didn’t intercept the ball on Sunday, but he got the the mid on it to have that happen. He got the sack and then DJ won picked it up. He made plays that need to be made. JC’s made those kind of plays. Mike Jackson has made big-time plays like we saw the pick six on Sunday. We Shaw Smith Wade pick six against Atlanta. They ended that game early in the third quarter. Everybody has stepped up defensively this season. They have not always been perfect, but they have made plays when they needed them. Patrick Jones who’s out for the year closing out that game against Miami back in week four of for that week five for that comeback was monstrous for them to have that happen against Dallas getting the stops and they needed it against obviously the Rams on Sunday. I applaud what a Vero’s unit has done and I don’t hear too many calls for him to lose his job. Maybe they’ll come back up depending on how the season ends but looking at the numbers overall they’re 18th in EPA per play defensively. They’re 24th in just overall defensive EPA. They’re 11th in success rate and they’re 13th in explosive play percentage. This is a middle of the road defense. I’ll take that. Especially after being historically the worst scoring defense, even though not every single one of those points is because of the defense in the history of the NFL. They’ve gone from being historically bad to just being fine, being good enough to be in a spot where an offense that hasn’t really been that great throwing the ball much of the year. They’ve been able to win games because of what the defense able to do and they’ve been able to make the right plays the right time and play complimentary football. So overall, it’s an above average defense or right there around average. I’m going to give them a C+. So, you got a C++ defense. I I believe I said a C minus yesterday offense. And what does that get you? Average football team. And what is that? Seven and six with an opportunity to close out the season and go to the playoffs. Will they do it? We’ll find out over the next four weeks here on Lockdown Panthers and of course watching wherever you are across the world. That’s going to wrap up this edition of the Lockdown Panthers podcast, part of Lockdown Podcast Network, hosted by yours, Julie, Julian Counsel. Again, y’all subscribe or follow the show for free over on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. And be sure to follow me, Julian Counsel, over on Twitter and Blue Sky, Julian Counsel, where I’m back with y’all next Wednesday answering your weekly Wednesday mailbag questions either at me or DM me over on Twitter to get those questions in or over on Blue Sky as well, Julian Counsel. In the meantime, be safe, be happy, be whole. As always, keep pounding and enjoy a stressfree weekend of NFL football.

Carolina Panthers defense transforms from historic disaster to reliable force—can this turnaround carry them to the NFC South title? Julian Council breaks down Derrick Brown’s Pro Bowl-caliber impact, Ashawn Robinson’s steady presence, and the rise of Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson as one of the NFL’s top cornerback duos. The conversation spotlights improved run defense, key metrics on edge rushers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen, and examines lineup decisions that have reshaped the unit’s identity.

Grade breakdowns cover each defensive position group, singling out strengths and exposing weaknesses in the Panthers pass rush and linebacker corps. Insights on Shaq Thompson’s departure, the evolving safety rotation featuring Tre’von Moehrig and Nick Scott, and the ever-important playmaking abilities in the secondary set the stage for Carolina’s playoff push. Can Ejiro Evero’s defense sustain its momentum through the final stretch?

Timestamps
0:00 Carolina Panthers Defensive Bye Week Grades
2:09 DT Grades
11:27 EDGE Rusher & LB Grades
21:58 Secondary Grades

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