CHARLOTTE -- The Carolina Panthers have signed free agent safety Stevie Brown to a one-year contract.

The Panthers have some prior experience with Brown, who spent the offseason with the Houston Texans in 2015 but was out of football during the regular season. Brown was in Carolina for four days leading up to the 2011 regular season.

A seventh-round draft pick by the Oakland Raiders in 2010 out of Michigan, Brown has played in 55 regular season games with 20 starts. In 2012, as a member of the Giants, Brown produced his best season, starting 11 games and posting 66 tackles and eight interceptions for an NFL-leading 307 yards, 11 passes defensed, two forced fumbles and two fumbles recoveries.

Brown played 15 games as a rookie with the Raiders, then spent the 2011 season with the Colts. He was with the Giants from 2012-14 but missed the entire 2013 season after suffering a torn ACL in the preseason.

The Panthers need depth at safety behind starters Demetrious Cox and Tre Boston in light of several injuries at the position that forced linebacker Brian Blechen to help fill in during the Panthers' last preseason game. Trenton Robinson was released with a pectoral injury Tuesday, and Dean Marlowe remains out of action with a hamstring injury. Marcus Ball and Travell Dixon recently returned to practice.