The Carolina Panthers have announced that they have picked up the fifth-year option on Derrick Brown’s rookie contract and declined to do so on CJ Henderson’s. This option is a fully guaranteed salary based on playing time and honors that was instituted with the rookie wage scale in the last collective bargaining agreement between the NFLPA and the NFL.
Brown’s option being picked up is no surprise to Panthers fan. The defensive lineman is coming off a career year in which he recorded 67 tackles, one sack, seven batted passes, and one incredibly athletic interception.
Those are already big numbers for a tackle in a 4-3 defense, but the Panthers are expecting more from him going forward as he moves to more of a 3-4 end role in Ejiro Evero’s new scheme.