Bobby

Brown

Wharton was added to the injury report on Saturday. Panthers DT Bobby Brown is expected to start in his stead. Wharton has 23 tackles, 17 quarterback pressures and two sacks this season. His loss is unfortunate. The defense will have No. 1 CB Jaycee Horn on the field, though. Horn missed Week 13 after suffering a concussion in Week 12. The Panthers were on bye in Week 14.

Brown is dealing with a hamstring injury and is eligible to come off the NFI list at any point this offseason. The 24-year-old tallied four tackles for loss as the Rams’ starting nose tackle last season and signed a three-year deal with the Panthers in March. Brown will be a key defensive lineman for Carolina when he gets on the field.

Brown has started 19 of the last 30 games he’s appeared in for the Rams, totaling 75 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and a half-sack over that span. Despite the starts, Brown has been utilized as a rotational player, as the 472 defensive snaps he saw last season marked the most of his four-year career. The Panthers narrowly missed out on signing coveted defensive tackle Milton Williams. Brown will play on run downs for a front that desperately needed help after allowing 5.2 yards per carry last year.

Jackson evidently picked up a chest injury of unknown severity last week. Given the stakes, he will likely play through the pain but his Thursday and Friday practice participation are critical. Rams starting nose tackle Bobby Brown III (shoulder) was also sidelined on Wednesday.

Brown appeared on the Thursday injury report, recording consecutive Limited Participant designations to close the week. The banged-up Rams defense needs all hands on deck, including the budding defensive line role player.

That should provide Brown enough time to heal and rehab in time for the home stretch of the season, which McVay declared as good news considering the injury is not thought to be season-ending. Brown has been a large part of the reason the Rams have over-performed against the run to this point in the season, ceding a respectable 4.3 yards per carry through five weeks.

A fourth-round pick from the Rams’ 2021 draft class, Brown didn’t see much action as a rookie. He appeared in 10 games and logged a single tackle. He only earned took the field for 22 snaps outside of special teams work. The loss of Brown dings the Rams’ defensive line depth slightly but shouldn’t affect their defense much during the six games he is out.

Brown (6'4/325) was awarded four-star prospect status by the major national recruiting outlets before making an impact right out of the gate, appearing in 13 games as a true freshman in 2018 while being named to the All-SEC Freshman Team. He started 11 contests in 2019, earning a commendable 82.3 overall defensive grade from PFF before breaking out last year with a career-high 5.5 sacks, 16 pressures and 14 stops as a first-team All-SEC performer. Brown has the brute strength to be useful in passing situations but lacks tact and nuance to his bull rush, grip and rip combination. He has plenty of strength to handle double teams and rarely gives ground against the run, but has stretches of inconsistent effort. Brown is still raw at 21 years old and has upside as a broad-shouldered, run-stopping interior lineman who comps out to former Washington fifth-round defensive tackle, Tim Settle. With the LA defensive line already having an established group of starters, Brown will be nothing more than a rotational run-stuffer early in his career. He’ll take on some of Michael Brockers’ role after the interior lineman left for Detroit in free agency.

Brown (6'4/270) recorded 22 tackles, eight TFL and 5.5 sacks in an impact junior season for a dominant Aggie defense that allowed only 21.7 points and 317 total yards per game this year. The former four-star recruit excelled in 2019 as well, earning a 82.3 overall defensive grade according to PFF. Brown is projected to come off the board in the pick 100-150 range which would likely land him in the fifth round.

Brown (6'4/270) indicated that Tide HC Nick Saban told him he could potentially see early playing time, a sometimes rare commodity with the ever-stacked roster in Tuscaloosa. “It’s not guaranteed because everything comes from work,” Brown said. "[Saban]'s also telling me they like me and I’m one of their top guys.” He could potentially visit Alabama again later this summer. As for other programs who are hot on the trail for Brown’s services, he singled out Florida State. In-state schools Texas and Texas A&M are also in the equation, here. The Arlington, Texas, native ranks as Scout.com’s No. 157 overall prospect for the 2018 cycle.