It's Beyond Time to Talk About Carolina Panthers DC Ejiro Evero

The Carolina Panthers put together a very talented defense this offseason. After languishing with a lack of talent to back up what the team believed was good coaching, they finally addressed the talent gap.

They added the following:

DL Lee Hunter
DL Te-Rah Edwards
EDGE Jaelan Phillips
LB Devin Lloyd
LB Bobby Okereke
CB Will Lee
S Zakee Wheatley

They spent an insane amount on Lloyd and Phillips to rightfully address the two biggest issues this defense has had. What was the result?

An absolute embarrassing drubbing by the Chicago Bears' offense. The same issues plagued the Panthers, and it's beyond time to ask: what has Ejiro Evero done to deserve these chances?

The Panthers may need to fire Ejiro Evero and move on

Carolina Panthers linebacker Devin Lloyd (55) chats with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ben Johnson is no easy coaching counter. Let's make that abundantly clear. Most defensive coordinators struggle against his offense. And if this is the new Caleb Williams, then most other defenses are in trouble this year.

Most other defenses didn't spend what the Panthers did on defense. Most other defenses didn't splurge to add a top-tier linebacker and edge rusher. The Panthers did all of that, and the results were somehow even worse (perhaps with a Bears caveat, but still).

Ben Johnson has had Ejiro Evero's number all game.

A lot of the issues are a combination of great concepts to counter Evero's calls and players lacking discipline, especially against the run. Again, I'll bring up the decision not to play Cam Jackson today, who had a great camp.
— Jared Feinberg (@Jared_NFLDraft) September 13, 2026

Ejiro Evero rightfully got excused for the 2024 and 2025 defenses. That 2024 unit was historically bad, but they lost Derrick Brown and had virtually no one else. In 2025, they still didn't have talent because of some poor investments (Tershawn Wharton).

That's no longer the case this year. We wrote before about Evero having no more excuses. And while it's Week 1, the result was so horrifically abysmal that we're already willing to completely backtrack on any benefit of the doubt we'd given Evero in the past.

52 points on the board. Over 500 yards of offense. It just does not get much worse than that, especially after having all offseason to look at this specific opponent.

The Bears largely did whatever they wanted. The Panthers' offense did what it could to keep this game close, but they simply couldn't keep up. The only reason it wasn't even uglier is that the Panthers' offense did well enough for a while, and the Bears fumbled on their opening possession. A stupid fourth-down attempt inside their own 25 also backfired, helping the Panthers out.

Evero has a talented defense. That is finally true. We're still waiting to see what it is that Evero brings to the table to help these talented players. Because as it stands, it's beginning to look like it wasn't necessarily a lack of talent in 2024 and 2025. Maybe it's just the coaching.

Any more of this, and Evero will have by far outlived his usefulness. And if it continues, the Panthers have to fire him if they're serious about contending this year or even being a competitive team.

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