Derrick Brown Vouches for Steve Wilks to be the Panthers' Next Head Coach

The Panthers' locker room is fully behind Steve Wilks.

Since Steve Wilks was named interim head coach of the Carolina Panthers, the team has put together a 5-5 record and finds themselves two wins away from winning the NFC South division. For the hand that Wilks was dealt, it's an impressive feat, to say the least.

Wilks took over the team with a 1-4 record and an injured starting quarterback, which was followed up by trades of RB Christian McCaffrey and WR Robbie Anderson. In lieu of Matt Rhule accepting the head coaching job at Nebraska, the Panthers have lost a few staff members throughout the course of the season as they decided to link back up with Rhule. For example, the defensive line has had a revolving door of coaches from Paul Pasqualoni to Terrance Knighton to now, Don Johnson.

After everything this team has been through and to control its own playoff destiny with two games to go in the regular season, says a lot about the job that Wilks has done.

Team owner David Tepper mentioned in a press conference a couple of months back that Wilks would need to do "an incredible job" to earn the head coaching position full-time. I think it's pretty fair to label the job he's done to this point as "incredible". That said, it's not as easy as just removing the interim tag. Tepper and the Panthers must still abide by the Rooney Rule, which requires an organization with a head coaching vacancy to interview two minority external candidates. Once that process is complete, Tepper can then decide to remove the tag and appoint Wilks as the head man or go in another direction.

Over the last several weeks, several players such as Brian Burns, Shaq Thompson, Jeremy Chinn, and others have voiced their support for Wilks. This morning on Good Morning Football, Derrick Brown made it clear that everyone in that building wants Wilks to get the job permanently.

"I speak for everybody in that locker room and say that we want Coach Wilks to be our next head coach. That's for sure," Brown said. "Every single week we're going to come in and he's going to tell you exactly how it is. He don't sugarcoat nothing. He keeps it plain Jane, per se. He lets you know exactly what's going on. I mean, you could be one of the best players, but you walk into that building on Monday and he'll tell you exactly how he felt about how you played. That level of clarity, that's exactly what we want."

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