Re-grading Panthers position groups on defense after 2021 season

Carolina Panthers DTs

The 2021 season started off better than anyone could have imagined for the Carolina Panthers’ interior defensive line. DaQuan Jones and Derrick Brown formed a dynamic duo of experience and youth that was a nightmare to opposing rushing attacks and rotational pieces such as Morgan Fox were solid contributors to further help the team’s cause.

This performance significantly tailed off as the season wore on. The rush defense especially became a glaring weakness that was readily exploited.

Brown finished the season with three sacks, nine quarterback hits, and 27 solo tackles which may not be mind-blowing but is solid considering his mid-season benching for subpar performance.

That benching seemed to light a fire under the second-year player that was on display with a masterful effort play to chase down Alvin Kamara at the New Orleans Saints in Week 16. The Auburn product is finally developing, and that should scare the opposition.

Jones on the other hand was the model of consistency and leadership on the inside, which was exactly what this young team desperately needed. While the stats may not show it as on paper, the veteran tackle had a worse year than Brown, there is more to a game than a stat sheet.

The former Tennesee Titan provided a sense of stability and was the type of player that was always in the right spot – even if no one else around him was.

The team also got contributions from Fox who was the textbook example of a rotational piece, a player that can come in and spell the starters while also having the ability to wreck the game in their own right.

Rookies at the position were less impressive as Daviyon Nixon was hampered by injuries for the majority of the season and seventh-rounder Phil Hoskins was never given much of a chance to prove himself.

• Preseason Grade: C+                
• Final Grade: C

This position is hard to evaluate considering the severe struggles that they had down the stretch against the run. The interior was just bullied and pushed off their spot if they were even in the right position, to begin with.

However, there is enough good here to build off should those lapses be cleared up in the offseason.