Panthers’ Frank Reich explains OC Thomas Brown’s influence on offseason program building

As the Carolina Panthers weigh their monumental first overall selection in April’s draft, the franchise is leaning heavily on new offensive coordinator Thomas Brown for a notable task that will have a huge impact on the team’s presumed future face of the franchise.

Brown, 36, was hired in February to be head coach Frank Reich’s right-hand man on offense. The former Cleveland Browns running back had spent the past three years as a position coach for the Los Angeles Rams. He won a Super Bowl with the Rams as their running backs/assistant head coach following the 2021 season before switching over to tight ends coach last season.

Given Brown’s versatile coaching background — and play-calling experience from his three-year stint at the University of Miami — Reich has entrusted the young coordinator with plotting out the script in which the future rookie quarterback will rely on.

“He’s been so instrumental — as we’re going through this process (with quarterback evaluations) — you have to remember that at the same time we’re putting a playbook together,” Reich said Tuesday at the NFL’s annual meeting at Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. “And he’s been leading the charge on that. He’s been right at the center of that and doing a phenomenal job with the offensive staff.”

Brown interviewed for the Houston Texans’ head coach vacancy in January. Shortly after Houston hired DeMeco Ryans, Brown joined Carolina’s staff as Reich’s top offensive assistant.

While Brown received some head coaching search buzz during this most recent cycle, he isn’t as well known locally as the some of the other fellow former players on the Panthers’ staff, such as quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and running backs/assistant head coach Duce Staley, who have ties to the area. But Reich, another former NFL player, has clearly appreciated Brown’s input during his first offseason as an NFL coordinator.

Brown — who traveled to the pro days for Kentucky’s Will Levis, Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud last week — has been a strong sounding board for Reich in his second stint as a head coach.

“He’s very smart, very instinctive,” Reich said. “He’s very decisive. When you guys get to know Thomas, you’re going to hear a guy who is very measured but very decisive. That’s one of the things that attracted me to him in the interview process, and I think in that role, you have to be like that.”

The Panthers have several notable names on the offensive staff — including McCown, Staley, senior offensive assistant Jim Caldwell and offensive line coach James Campen — but, according to Reich, Brown knows when to stake his claim in the conversation — whether that’s about a player evaluation or the playbook.

“He’s got this assertive personality,” Reich said. “He’s not afraid to put it out there — what he thinks. But he’s going to be measured in what he does. We’re all evaluated on the number of opinions we put out there.”