The Carolina Panthers made several coaching changes on the defensive side of the ball after the regular season ended last month. They parted ways with outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, quality control coach Bobby Maffei, assistant DBs coach DeAngelo Hall, and safeties coach Bert Watts.
However, Panthers head coach Dave Canales decided to keep defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero on the staff despite his unit's criticism this season. Usually, when there are multiple changes on one side of the ball, the coordinator is also let go.
But at his end-of-season presser, Canales made it clear that Evero is his guy and that he has faith in his scheme.
"I've played against this defense, I've played against it in Seattle with the Rams for a bunch of years, I played against it twice last year, Canales said (via Panthers team website). I know what this defense will look like, and I'm committed to that. Ejiro's committed to that, so it's about developing the players that we've brought in and evaluating our schemes. So we have to be able to look at our schemes and be really critical of all those things as well."
That said, the Panthers might have made a mistake keeping Evero around. Carolina’s defense was among the worst in the NFL in 2024. Carolina was ranked 26th in takeaways (17), 30th in sacks (32), first in rushing yards allowed (179.4 per game), dead last in scoring defense (31.4 points per game), and 32nd in third down conversion percentage (50.2).
When your defense cannot get to the opposing team’s quarterback to force a turnover, they will give up points, won’t get off the field on third down, and struggle to stop the run. The Panthers’ defense was so bad this season that they allowed the third-most rushing yards in NFL history (3,057).
Now granted, the Panthers did not have Derrick Brown in the middle of the defensive line, who is one of the better young defensive tackles in the league. But the Panthers had other veterans on the defensive line who could’ve played much better.
Veteran defender A’Shawn Robinson who was tied with Jadeveon Clowney for the team lead in sacks with 5.5 sacks, struggled in run defense. Robinson recorded a 54.1 run-defense grade (ranked 100th among 219 defensive linemen).
It also didn’t help that veteran linebacker Josey Jewell was a major disappointment, who had a 52.2 run-defense grade (ranked 165th among 189 LBs). All of this falls on the shoulders of Eviro, who will enter his third year with the team.
In his first year as the defensive coordinator, the Panthers’ defense had 11 takeaways (32nd in the league), 27 sacks (32nd in the NFL), and 29th in scoring defense (24.5 points per game).
Carolina’s run defense wasn’t as bad as in 2024 as they only allowed 122.4 yards per game (22nd in the NFL). However, the Evero’s defensive unit gave up 25 rushing touchdowns (most in the NFL).
The 44-year-old coordinator will get one more chance to fix things. But if the Panthers make the necessary personnel changes this offseason and things do not improve in 2025, Evero will likely be the next out the door in the Queen City.