The Carolina Panthers' second-round draft selection of Lee Hunter at No. 49 could finally let Pro Bowl defensive lineman Derrick Brown play his actual game again.
As Mike Renner of CBS Sports put it:
"Hunter was the best playmaker in this defensive tackle class last season. He's a violent shedder one on one and his range in the run game is special for a man his size. While he doesn't eat double teams exceptionally well, the Panthers have Derrick Brown for that."
That line explains the entire pick.
In 2023, his healthy season before the chaos, Brown posted a 90.0 pass-rush grade from Pro Football Focus. In 2025, upon his return from injury, he still managed a 72.0 mark from the inside. But the Panthers’ issue wasn’t his performance. It was what they needed him to cover for.
Carolina Panthers can finally play to Derrick Brown's strengths after drafting Lee Hunter
When the team cycled through names like Tershawn Wharton, Bobby Brown III, and eventually moved on from A’Shawn Robinson, the constant was Brown. However, the Auburn product had to align in spots that weren’t always optimal.
That’s exactly what former Panthers great Luke Kuechly was getting at when he said: “You don't want to get caught in a position where you have him play out of his best position to fill a need because he's that type of football player.”
Hunter fixes the need. He finished 96th percentile run-stop rate in 2025 with an 84.5 run defense grade — 12th among FBS interior defenders — and 11.9% stop rate, best among draft-eligible defensive linemen according to PFF.
He’s here to make it miserable to run the ball inside. Hunter's space-eating presence should allow Brown to stop playing traffic cop in the middle and start playing destroyer again.
Once Hunter makes inside runs a bad idea, offenses are pushed into more obvious passing situations. That’s where the Panthers’ edges come into play with Jaelan Phillips, Nic Scourton, and others.
There’s no clean answer for an offensive line there. You can’t slide everything to Brown anymore. You can’t double him without losing integrity inside because Hunter can punish single blocks.
For the first time in a while, Brown’s presence doesn’t have to hide a weakness next to him. It can actually be amplified by it. Some analysts questioned taking Hunter over flashier names or better pure interior pass rushers. But that misses the point.
The Panthers didn’t draft a defensive tackle to add sacks. They drafted a legitimate 3-4 nose option, so Brown doesn’t have to be.
That’s what this pick really means.
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