Todd Wash Explains How the Panthers Will Use Derrick Brown and Shy Tuttle

There are a lot of question marks on the defensive side of the ball this offseason for the Carolina Panthers. Not so much about the level of talent but more so about how the staff will use certain players.

Jeremy Chinn is one guy that everyone is keeping their eye on but how Derrick Brown and Shy Tuttle will be used is also very intriguing. 

In the first three years of his career, Brown primarily played inside as a 3-tech and some 2i. With the transition to a 3-4 scheme under Ejiro Evero, Brown will play all over the place. He'll see some snaps as a 5-tech, 0-tech, 4i, and everything in between. It won't be an overwhelming change, according to defensive line coach Todd Wash. Instead, it will be more about just adding to his arsenal.

"He's going to lineup in some of the exact same spots that he has before," Wash said. "Over the guard, over the center. We're just adding another little alignment for him where he does out and lines up over a tackle at times. But for the most part, his alignments are the same. The biggest change is going to be the technique. They've been in a true attack front here as a 4-3. We're still attacking but it's not exactly 100% penetration. So he's going to line up in the same areas that he has been except for now we're just changing a couple techniques that we feel we can get a little bit more two-gap out of him and he definitely has that ability.

"I think both Derrick and Shy both have the ability to play the defensive end spot or the nose spot. When we're in our sub-defense, our four down, Derrick and Shy along with Henry [Anderson], and the rest of them will all play the same two positions. The reason we were interested in him was because of his flexibility. The defense he ran in New Orleans is similar with alignments and stuff. The techniques and the names are totally different but we feel he has the flexibility to play inside and outside. That's why we felt it was such a great pickup for our organization."

Brown has been absolutely tremendous in the running game throughout his career but hasn't been as efficient in getting to the passer. In three years, he has registered six sacks and 33 QB hits. Those are two areas Wash would like to see Brown improve.

"Right now, we all understand and everybody out there understands he's a great run defender. He's big, strong. He's stout. And he can play all the positions across the board. The biggest thing we're going to start working is the pass rush side of things. He's a big athlete. He's 330 pounds but he has the ability, the speed, and explosiveness to get on the edges of guards. But before that can happen we talk about in our room that you have to earn the right to rush the quarterback. So we got to do a good job of stopping the run and then hopefully we're going to be able to get Derrick even better than he is right now versus the pass."

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