Carolina Panthers: DC Sean McDermott Drawing Serious Interest
The Carolina Panthers might finally take more losses to their coaching staff this off season.
The Carolina Panthers might be about to lose an important piece to their identity. Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott has been the target of several coaching searches this off season. The 49ers have talked to him and the Buffalo Bills are about to talk to him for the second time. The Bills seem to be zeroing in on him.
McDermott has been the only defensive coordinator that the Panthers have had in the Ron Rivera era. The two men shared the same philosophy of an attacking defense and together they built a pretty solid one. Last year saw the need to rebuild the secondary, but McDermott adjusted his play-calling to generate a pass rush after the first few weeks of the season were unimpressive.
Amazingly McDermott is only forty-two and it was felt that eventually he would get a head coaching chance somewhere in the league. The question was whether the Panthers would win a Super Bowl before that point, and the answer seems to be no.
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The last point is only worth bringing up because the last time a defensive coordinator left a recently Super Bowl visiting Panthers team it was Jack Del Rio. While there are several reasons why the 2003-4 Panthers never made it back to the big game, losing Del Rio a year or so early played a small part. Mike Trgovac did the job fine afterward but never reached the heights that Del Rio did.
Like the John Fox Panthers, the hope is that the defensive scheme is enough Rivera to continue despite losing its main champion. Like Trgovac, the current Panthers seem to have next man in place in the person of Steve Wilks, the secondary coach. Wilks is also currently an assistant head coach.
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Wilks is the guy who has had the most interesting job the past few years. He had to work with the temp veterans and twice had to build the secondary from almost scratch. He helped the rise of Josh Norman and then had to juggle starting two rookies by the end of the season. There is one catch with Wilks, though; he may be too good at his job.
Wilks has also come up in the discussion of open coordinator spots and even the Chargers head coaching search around the league. Hopefully the potential departure of McDermott will keep him close to home. If McDermott was to get snubbed again, Wilks might go somewhere where he can be a defensive coordinator like rejoining Norman in Washington.
So the Panthers may have to replace one or two of their important defensive staffers this off season. If so, we will learn how much of Rivera’s personal stamp the defense has as we move on.