CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The news went from bad to worse for the Carolina Panthers after Sunday’s 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints when they discovered Pro Bowl defensive tackle Derrick Brown suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury.

A league source confirmed to ESPN that Brown will undergo surgery to repair an apparent meniscus injury.

It was unclear when Brown suffered the injury. He played 60 of Carolina’s 66 snaps in its worst opening-day loss in team history and fourth-largest margin of defeat overall.

Brown was coming off a 2023 campaign in which his 103 tackles were the most for an NFL defensive lineman in a season.

Carolina rewarded the seventh pick of the 2020 draft with a four-year, $96 million extension earlier this year.

Brown was Carolina’s best defensive player and arguably the best player on the team. Although he’s never had more than three sacks in a season, new coach Dave Canales challenged him to have eight to 10 in 2024, something Brown felt was attainable.

NFL Network first reported the news of Brown’s injury.