Update on How Yetur Gross-Matos is Adapting to a New Position

The coaching staff is seeing progress from the former defensive end.

There will be several moving parts to this 3-4 defense under Ejiro Evero as more than a handful of players are transitioning into new roles and positions. A few weeks back, head coach Frank Reich noted that for some, the switch to the new scheme will be more challenging than for others.

"It's a big transition, particularly for a couple of guys. Like Yetur [Gross-Matos], him moving to outside linebacker. I think EJ and his staff are doing a great job of cutting it piece by piece, so that if I'm a player I can kind of hear it broken down piece by piece and then we kind of put it all together. My experience with this is there's always an element of excitement to learning a new system."

Gross-Matos has always been a traditional 4-3 defensive end, dating back to his college days at Penn State. He doesn't have the size to remain as a defensive end in a 3-4, hence the move to outside linebacker. It remains to be seen how often the outside backers will drop into pass coverage in this defense but one can assume that when YGM is on the field, they won't be doing much of it, if any at all in 2023.

There's a lot for Gross-Matos to learn with this new position and according to the staff, they're pleased with where he is right now.

"[He's] just a grinder, a worker. He'll do it exactly how you ask," outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu said Wednesday. "Very pleased with where he is in his transition. There's a process that he's still going through. We talk about going from point A to point Z - he's working along that progress really well."

"We've seen great improvement from the first day of that first time going on the field for veteran minicamp until now," Evero told reporters last week. "We're just going to continue to push through and get better, players and coaches."

Heading into the final year of his rookie contract, this feels like a make-or-break season for Gross-Matos in Carolina. If he fails to produce, GM Scott Fitterer could let him walk in free agency and bring someone else in that better fits what they are looking for in a 3-4 outside backer.

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