PFF unimpressed by Carolina Panthers' remodeled defensive line in NFL rankings

After Derrick Brown went down for the year after just one game, the Carolina Panthers' defensive line devolved into the worst unit in the NFL. Whichever team had the second-worst interior defensive line was also pretty far ahead of where Carolina wound up landing.

And so, general manager Dan Morgan set out to upgrade this group as much as possible when free agency began. While they just missed out on signing the league's top free agent DL in Milton Williams, they were able to land two solid upgrades (Turk Wharton and Bobby Brown II) to pair with Derrick Brown up front as he returns for the 2025 season.

While this group looks far better on paper than it was last year, Pro Football Focus remains unimpressed. They have the Panthers' new-look defensive line ranked just 28th in the league.

"There is a lot of projection involved in not ranking the Panthers' defensive line last on this list. It was the worst unit in the league by a significant margin in 2024. Carolina generated pressure on only 23.2% of pass plays without blitzing, which ranked dead last in the league. However, the unit is getting back interior defender Derrick Brown, who missed almost the entire season and had established himself as one of the best young players at the position in previous seasons..."

PFF's projection for Carolina's starting defensive line is a bit odd, though. Apparently they're expecting a 4-3 front with DJ Wonnum and Nic Scourton on the edge with Patrick Jones II and Turk Wharton inside. Derrick Brown and nose tackle Bobby Brown II are nowhere to be seen.

Assuming this is actually a 3-4 defense with Wonnum and Jones on the edge and Scourton and Princely Umanmielen backing them up and the trio of Wharton, Brown and Brown (not a law firm) lined up inside, it should be far better than what the Panthers got from this group last season.

While we think they're better than PFF is (sort-of) giving them credit for, this unit would look much, much better if they still had Jadeveon Clowney locking down one of the outside linebacker spots. Without him, they're going to need big contributions from Scourton and Umanmielen and will likely need defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero to manufacture a lot more pressures than he did last season.