The Carolina Panthers have pulled this lever before. The Panthers fired defensive coordinator Phil Snow after a Week 5 loss to the San Francisco 49ers and let Al Holcomb finish the season. That was the Matt Rhule era. However, this time there is a different coach and different coordinator, but the same franchise and the same emergency exit, with the target being Ejiro Evero, and the Panthers have once again made the move during the season rather than in the offseason.
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“Sources: Panthers are letting go of defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on X.
The decision was announced on Friday morning, less than 12 hours after the team suffered a 27-19 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Thursday Night Football, dropping their record to 3-4.
In the meantime, head coach Dave Canales has named long-time defensive line coach Todd Wash as the interim defensive coordinator and play-caller for the remainder of the season.
But why was Ejiro Evero fired? While the Panthers are yet to release a statement, there may be multiple reasons behind the decision.
Evero was once considered a top head coaching candidate and has been part of the franchise since 2023. However, the Panthers’ defensive performance became unsustainable due to lapses and an inability to stop the run.
As such, Evero’s unit gave up 200 or more rushing yards in a league-leading 12 games since 2024. They allowed a franchise-record 59 points to the Chicago Bears in the season opener and 258 rushing yards to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7.
On top of that, under Evero, the Panthers also ranked dead last in the NFL in both rushing yards allowed per game and third-down conversion rate allowed, and allowed a 45.3% third-down conversion rate and 141.7 rushing yards per game since 2023.
The loss to Green Bay, a team struggling on the ground, appears to have sealed Evero’s fate. The Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns. Evero was not the only mid-season casualty. The Panthers also released defensive passing game coordinator Jonathan Cooley on the same day.
With the mid-season shakeup, head coach Dave Canales reallocated internal responsibilities to keep the team competitive in the NFC South division.
In Cooley’s place, defensive backs coach Renaldo Hill will absorb the passing game duties. As for the role of interim DC & play-caller, defensive line coach Todd Wash took over.
Wash has around 31 years of coaching experience, including five seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2016-2020), where he led the NFL’s 2nd-ranked defense during their 2017 AFC Championship run.
In addition to that, outside linebackers coach and run game specialist AC Carter will also expand his role to take over Wash’s previous group.
As things stand, the Panthers seem sorted with their coaching group. However, it will be interesting to see whether they add coaches to the staff while navigating a 3-4 start.