Tershawn “Turk” Wharton arrived in Carolina on a three-year, $45 million contract this offseason, with a total potential value of up to $54 million with incentives.
And after a slow start to the season in which a hamstring injury and then a toe injury cost him four games, Carolina has discovered something critical: Wharton can create chaos in completely different ways, and his return to health has finally unlocked the vision the front office sold when they signed him in March.
And it’s starting to change what this defense can be. Over the last month, Wharton has been a different man.
After the back-to-back spike of 59 and 56 defensive snaps (90.8% and 82.4%) that launched his breakout, he has stayed in that heavy-use tier, logging 57, 58, and 40 snaps in the weeks that followed.
Derrick Brown has earned a reputation for overwhelming humans with sheer mass and force. Wharton, meanwhile, is a stress test for offensive lines because of leverage, burst, and, according to anyone who’s lined up across from him, shocking explosiveness.
Offensive lineman Austin Corbett has played with Aaron Donald and said he sees similarities.
“Turk has that natural leverage — which means you're short — and then you add on top of his strength and explosiveness on top of it, that's a challenge. It was the same thing with Aaron, so he's not tall, he's not necessarily the biggest, but when you have that leverage, that strength, that explosiveness, you're able to move guys that way.”
Evero sees it too. With Brown anchoring and Wharton slashing, he suddenly has matchups he can dictate.
“They’re a really good complement,” Evero said. “Having Derrick power rush and Turk penetrate gives us flexibility.”
This is the version of the signing Carolina hoped to pair with Brown. And now that Wharton’s injuries are (hopefully) past him, the Panthers' defense line has been phenomenal.
What was the worst run defense in the entire league last year (179.8 rushing yards allowed per game) has now transformed into one in the middle of the pack and climbing.
Carolina’s defense has spent much of the year dealing with snap overloads and the apparent ripple effects of an offense in transition. They needed someone other than Brown to change the math up front.
Wharton is doing it.
Double Brown? Wharton slips through a guard’s outside shoulder. Slide protection toward Wharton’s quickness? Brown gets one-on-one opportunities and does whatever the heck he wants.
That disruption (two different body types, two different play styles, same nightmare effect) might be Carolina’s most promising pivot of the season.
And as the Panthers hit the bye searching for answers, one thing has quietly become clear:
They’ve found a free-agent signing who’s finally showing why he was brought here, and why this defense might be turning a corner at the perfect time.