Bobby Brown III hopes to be an artist, entertainer and monster for Carolina Panthers
Bobby Brown III is in the middle of explaining what it was like joining the Carolina Panthers’ defensive line room when something catches your ear.
He sneaks it in at the end, with a shrug, as if it’s nothing. But it isn’t nothing.
It’s Tuesday afternoon, just after the Panthers’ first open minicamp workout. Brown is giving props to the players he’s looked up to for a long time. One of those players is A’Shawn Robinson, who mentored Brown in Los Angeles before the two eventually made their way to Carolina. Another is Derrick Brown, who Bobby wanted to be when he was in college — Bobby even wore No. 5 at Texas A&M because the guy from Auburn made it so formidable.
Then, those stop-in-your-tracks words:
“So yeah, I’m their peer,” Brown says. “But there’s also an extra respect for the artwork they put on the field.”
Artwork? you ask.
Brown nods.
“It’s art, it’s always art,” he continues. He adds, “We’re athletes, and we put our bodies on the line. But we’re entertainers, too.”
This exchange might very well crystallize what the Panthers are getting in one of their splashiest free agency acquisitions of the 2025 offseason:
They’re getting an artist.
An entertainer.
Someone who, at a colossal 6-foot-4, 332 pounds, might just be the run-stopping monster this defense desperately needed a season ago. And the Panthers certainly needed — and need — someone like this: With the front-seven of last year’s defense depleted by injuries, Carolina allowed a league-worst 3,057 rushing yards and a most-in-NFL-history 534 points. Pro Football Focus ranked the Panthers’ DL unit 32nd out of 32 teams in 2024 — and the year’s highest-graded player, Jadeveon Clowney, departed earlier this offseason.
Head coach Dave Canales said he loves who he’s getting in Bobby Brown.
“He’s been in the system,” Canales said of Bobby Brown, who played under current Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero in Los Angeles, another connection that makes Carolina feel familiar. “He’s into the small parts, the nuances of the scheme. He had a mentor in A’Shawn early in his career. So just having those guys feed off each other. His size. His power. But then he’s just such an amazing athlete.
“He did a great job this spring. I think he put on seven to eight pounds of lean muscle mass. He’s been involved in what we’re doing. He’s been working his tail off. And he’s been a great example to the young guys.”
Bobby Brown III was a pro wrestler ‘in another world’
Brown comes by his “football is art” point of view naturally.
You can trace it back to when he was a little kid, spending his Monday and Friday nights in Bruce, Mississippi, watching WWE with his grandmother.
His grandmother, Ella Stovall Kelly, was “a big Shawn Michaels fan.” Brown loved John Cena and Randy Orton. “Those were my main Top 2,” he says now. “I love Randy. The pose is crazy.” The Panthers caught wind of his love for Orton and got Brown an action figure of him upon his arrival to Charlotte. Brown was caught on camera giggling with youthful excitement.
Last year, when he was still with the Los Angeles Rams, Brown went viral after doing his own Rey Mysterio impression. Some equipment managers had cut a football, poked two eyeholes in it, and Brown put it over his head and shared it on social media. They called it a “turnover mask” — a play on the Miami Hurricanes’ “turnover chain.”
Would you be a pro wrestler in another world, Bobby?
“Yeah, in another world,” he said. He chuckled. “Not this one. In another one.”
That’s because, in this world, Brown is a pretty good football player.
The defensive tackle moved to Arlington, Texas, after Mississippi and had a stellar high school career at Lamar High School. He then went to Texas A&M, where he made the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2018 and then the All-SEC First Team in 2020 before getting drafted by the Rams in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
His last two seasons in L.A. were where he made his money, so to speak. In 2023 and 2024, he combined for 75 tackles and 13 tackles for loss, and his prowess as a run stopper grew and shined playing alongside guys like Aaron Donald.
Brown was later considered one of the best defensive linemen on the free agency market this past offseason — and with the Panthers on the lookout for a run stopper, Brown cashed out on Day 1. He signed a three-year, $21 million deal in March.
Panthers defensive line already knows what it has
According to his teammates, he’s getting along well with a group that is hoping to make huge strides in 2025. Brown joins Derrick Brown, Robinson, newly signed free agent Turk Wharton, newly drafted Cam Jackson, Shy Tuttle, LaBryan Ray and Jaden Crumedy.
“Bobby’s funny,” Derrick Brown said when asked about his new teammate. “Bobby’s really funny. Like I said, man, we got a lot of selfless guys in there. It’s funny because we’re the biggest dudes on the team but also the most childish, like gotta-joke-guys. Our meetings start with 5 to 10 minutes of just shooting the crap.”
Derrick Brown added: “Defensive line coach Todd Wash already knows what he’s got.”
And in Bobby Brown III, he has someone who’s not only huge but is athletic. Who’s not only funny but thoughtful. Who’s not only here to work, but to entertain, to dominate.
To be an artist.
“I would say it like this,” Brown said, expounding on his comment that a football field is a canvas of sorts. “No two people can do the same thing.”
The Panthers are betting on that — and they’re betting on Brown.
This story was originally published June 16, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
