Evero Talks Losing Xavier Woods, DJ Johnson's Development, Justin Jefferson + More

Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero previews this week's game against Minnesota.

Evaluation of first three weeks

"It's obviously not the start that we wanted as a team. Didn't have the performance last week that we wanted in Seattle, but I'm very optimistic about this team, our defense moving forward. We know we have a lot of work to do. There's no excuses. We're not going to use injuries or anything like that. We got to coach better. We know we got to play better. We are committed to the process and we are working our butts off every day to make sure that we get there."

Why OLB DJ Johnson has been a healthy scratch

"We've been really blessed. We have a lot of good players at that position. Justin [Houston], Brian [Burns], Yetur [Gross-Matos] has been playing really well, [Amare] Barno. He's doing a great job. I would just say that. I like where he is. I like the progress he's making. It's just a matter of him finding those opportunities. There's always fluctuations and it's week by week, so we'll see what happens."

How Yetur Gross-Matos has played

"He's done a great job. Start off, he's on the edge, he's an outside backer. He's going to play defensive end for us in our nickel package. He can rush. He can set the edge. He can play the run game. He's done all those things really well. And when you look at those known passing situations when you just try to get your best rusher out there regardless of position, his ability to move inside and show that flexibility to work all those pass games inside - he's done a great job of learning it. He's been really good for our team."

Gameplanning for Justin Jefferson

"He's arguably the best in the league. Speed, change of direction, route running, after the catch, he can do it all at a high level. And Kirk [Cousins] can get him the ball, so it's going to be a great challenge for our defense. It's not just one guy you got to stop. You got to stop 87 [T.J. Hockenson]. You still got to stop [Jordan] Addison. They got weapons all over the place. They have the ability to run even thought they haven't really committed to it so far."

Losing Xavier Woods

"When you lose a player of that caliber, you can't replace that experience. But what you can do is give those guys that are going into the game a chance to be successful. You put them in positions that they are comfortable in. The one thing that I will say is that all the guys in that room, Sam Franklin and Jammie Robinson, they've done a great job of staying prepared and working each day. I like the fact that before Xavier's injury, those guys were working toward being a starter and preparing like they were going to be playing in the game."

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