Now we definitely know that the Carolina Panthers are keeping the brains of their defense around.
As announced by the team on Thursday, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero will be retained for the 2024 campaign. News of the decision first leaked out on Monday morning, courtesy of Joe Person of The Athletic.
The 43-year-old interviewed for three different head-coaching opportunities this offseason, including the vacancy for his Panthers. Carolina ultimately opted for now-former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who heaped a tremendous amount of praise on Evero during his introductory press conference last week.
“Oh my gosh, just the respect factor that I have goin’ against him—I know the scheme goin’ against it, I’m really excited to learn more about the ins and outs as far as how the calls come in, the adjustments and all that,” Canales said. “I just know it was really difficult on me for years—whether it was in Seattle goin’ against the Rams and that family, or this year goin’ against EJ twice.
“And this is really important for me, especially as a first-time head coach. I’m here to make sure we get our football right, especially on the offensive side. That we have that continuity with the players. With EJ, just bein’ able to have the mentality that I saw that was really challenging to play against.”
Evero, in his first season on the job for Carolina, headed the unit that allowed the fourth-fewest yards in the NFL.
The Panthers, in the same announcement from this afternoon, named Brad Idzik as their offensive coordinator and Tracy Smith as their special teams coordinator.
