How will the Carolina Panthers defense function under new coordinator Ejiro Evero? A former NFL head coach just provided us with his forecast.
Chuck Pagano recently gave The 33rd Team a preview of what he believes Evero is bringing to Charlotte. The ex-Indianapolis Colts head coach, who preceded Frank Reich at the position, looked to the rising star’s roots.
He writes:
He’s a 3-4 guy, a Vic Fangio disciple. They two worked together with the San Francisco 49ers when Fangio was the defensive coordinator and Evero was a defensive assistant. A lot of Evero’s fronts start in the 3-4; a lot of the coverage out of that base defense; and a lot of coverage out of that sub-defense are things we’ll see in Carolina.
He’ll probably have the guys line up in a base 3-4 — so three defensive linemen, two outside linebackers and two inside linebackers. In the secondary, it’ll be two safeties and two corners with base personnel not in that much.
Carolina’s move to a 3-4 front will be their first such shift since 2019, Ron Rivera’s last season with the organization.
To help accommodate the transition, the front office has retooled its personnel with a few notable additions such as defensive linemen Shy Tuttle and DeShawn Williams. Plus, some familiar names—Brian Burns, Derrick Brown and Jaycee Horn—already have the skill sets to quickly adapt to the change.
Pagano adds that Evero’s weapons, as well as his approach, will lead to a pretty entertaining unit:
The Panthers are going to play fast. They’re going to be aggressive and technically sound. There will be a lot more zone coverage than man coverage, but he won’t be afraid to get after opposing teams when he has to.
