The NFL season is always evolving. Week 1 offers more unknowns than any other, especially when considering new players, coaches and schemes.
In this weekly series, I’ll feature one player from the Chicago Bears opponent on each side of the ball who I think is integral to their team’s success. Like seasons past, you won’t see any quarterbacks, as the nature of the position always makes them critical for a team’s success. I’ll also try and mix in a few under the radar players form time to time.
Let’s
start with the Carolina Panthers offensive player that I will be focused on.
Offense: Jonathon Brooks, RB
The Panthers are a team known for grinding out tough yards on the ground and keeping the chains moving. A year ago it was Rico Dowdle leading the charge due to injuries to starter Chuba Hubbard and second year back Jonathon Brooks. Fast forward a year and the Panthers front-office felt comfortable enough in the recovery of both Hubbard and Brooks to let 2025 leading rusher Dowdle leave in free-agency.
While I absolutely expect Hubbard to be the bell cow in week one, Brooks is the type of talent that can break the game open with a short pass to the house or couple 20+ runs to get the offense moving and keep Chicago off-balance. By all accounts Brooks has had an excellent summer and the Carolina coaches couldn’t stop raving about hi and it’s easy to understand why. The 6’0” 210lb back out of Texas was universally lauded as the top back in the ‘24 class, despite suffering a knee injury that ended his collegiate career early and set his pro career back some. If he is finally healthy enough to play like himself, I expect his 4.4 speed, impressive acceleration and underrated receiving ability to be problematic for the opposition all season. It just so happens that ends up being Chicago this week. If newly acquired Devin Bush and Co. can keep him in check, I like Chicago’s chances to outscore the Panthers big. But if he provides the spark his coaches have seen in camp, this could be another high-scoring shootout.
Defense: Derrick Brown, DT
In my opinion, Derrick Brown is easily one of the top 5 DTs in the entire league and has only played Chicago twice in his six-year career – both losses – but made his impact in each game. In his last contest against the Bears in 2023, Brown notched 10 tackles (9 solo) with 2 TFL and 2 QBH. As a DT, that is insane. Former Bear RG Teven Jenkins highlighted Brown after their battle that day and compared the former Auburn Tiger to All-Pro Dexter Lawrence. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Lawrence just wreaked havoc on our current offensive line in their joint practices this summer and appears to have single-handedly revamped the Cincinnati Bengals defense. Considering Derrick Brown has some reinforcements going in to battle with him this time around, Chicago must come ready to play.
I will be eagerly observing how new Center Garret Bradberry holds up against the 6’5”, 320lb monster. But no doubt, Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson will help out as well. If they can hold their own against Brown and allow Caleb to have time to operate in the passing game while giving the RBs time and space to maneuver in the run game, this one should be no problem for Chicago. But if Brown once again does his best Dexter Lawrence impression, watch out Bears fans.
