CHARLOTTE — The Panthers did what they did Monday for one simple reason.

They had to.

For all the moves made, and there were many, adding talent, depth, and competition on the defensive line was clearly the priority.

The Panthers reportedly agreed to deals with defensive tackles Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown III on Monday (the deals can't be made official until the league year starts Wednesday afternoon), among a flurry of moves.

But fixing the defense from front to back was always the priority, and general manager Dan Morgan told us as much at the combine.

"Both sides of the ball, you have to win the line of scrimmage," Morgan said. "You have to be bigger, you have to be tougher, you have to be more physical, and that's what we're looking to do around here.

"We're looking to build that defensive line like we built the offensive line last season, give the fans a good product on the field, give all of us a good product on the field."

While Wharton and Brown alone might not have the kind of individual impact that Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis did, the cumulative effect of the additions will be the most significant.

Consider Pro Bowler Derrick Brown another big-ticket signing after he played just 60 snaps last season. And the snap counts are important to remember as they build this defense. Brown has always been willing and able to shoulder that load, playing a ridiculous 940 snaps in 2023, or 89 percent of the team's total. That's too many, even if Brown would never ask for a break.

And in Brown's absence after his Week 1 knee injury, A'Shawn Robinson carried a heavier burden than most last year.

He played a defensive lineman-high 762 snaps, which were nearly 250 more than he had ever played in a season. (He played 515 in 2023 with the Rams). Robinson responded with a career-high 5.5 sacks, but they'd willingly spread some of that pass-rush burden out if it meant improving the run defense.

And if he's not playing 66 percent of the team's snaps (and the physical toll was obvious as the year went on), chances are they're better snaps.

Among the Panthers' problems last year, and there were several, was that they were stretched thin on the defensive line, and the results showed as the year went on.

They were last in the league in run defense by a wide margin (their 179.8 average was nearly 40 yards a game more than the 31st-place Saints), and it got worse as the year went along.

The Panthers allowed at least 195 rushing yards in 10 of their 17 games, including more than 200 in each of the last six. The 3,057 total rushing yards allowed were the third-most in league history.

Snaps played by Panthers defensive linemen in 2024

They used 11 different defensive linemen in at least one game last year (the standard roster allocation for that position in a 3-4 setup is six), including a number of short-timers as they searched high and low for available bodies, much less qualified ones. That's no slight to any of the individuals, but the collective whole exhibited the strain as the season progressed.

Nose tackle Shy Tuttle's used to that kind of workload, as he's averaged 553 snaps a year over the last four seasons. But his 610 snaps were a career-high, and again, too many.

Defensive end LaBryan Ray was signed as a training camp workout player in 2023 and worked his way into 355 useful snaps as a rotational player that year. But last season, his 627 snaps trailed only Robinson as he became a starter.

The hope is that adding solid players like Wharton (667 snaps last year for the Chiefs, or 62 percent off their defensive snaps) and Bobby Brown (472 snaps, or 42 percent of the Rams' total) can spread that workload a little more evenly.

(For comparison, the Panthers used only six defensive linemen in 2023, when they allowed 122.4 rushing yards per game. Having a healthy Derrick Brown made a huge difference, of course, but having a stable core was also a factor.)

There's also the reality that the Panthers aren't finished at the position.

They still have two other players on the roster who played snaps last year, as sixth-round pick Jaden Crumedy (121) and late addition Sam Roberts (24) filled in after they churned the roster.

The Panthers also still have nine draft picks, including eight in the first five rounds (starting with No. 8 overall). So it's likely they'll add another body to the mix and let that group go to camp and compete to find the best six.

And having multiple qualified choices from which to pick that group is closer to a reality after Monday's moves.

And it also gets them closer to where Morgan envisioned taking this defense, following the same map he used last year on the other side of the ball.