Panthers assistant named among coaches to watch for NFL 2025 hiring cycle

Carolina defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero may be a hot name for head coach gigs at season's end.

Tim Weaver | Nov 22, 2024

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 10: Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero of the Carolina Panthers looks on during rookie minicamp on May 10, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. / (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

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Carolina Panthers

No matter how the rest of the 2024 NFL season plays out for the Carolina Panthers, they have some serious challenges ahead of them as they attempt to build a winning franchise. One inevitable obstacle is that they will eventually lose some key pieces who perform well to other teams. That applies to players who leave in free agency as well as assistant coaches who leave for better gigs around the league.

On that score, the most-promising asset the Panthers have on rookie head coach Dave Canales' staff is defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who has a good reputation despite some poor results this year. In fact, Evero has been named among the potential head coach candidates for the 2025 hiring cycle by Tom Pelissero at NFL Network.

NFL.com on Ejiro Evero

"Evero has coached all three phases -- offense, defense and special teams -- and been well regarded at each stop during his 17 NFL seasons... And interest in the league hasn't waned. Evero has interviewed for eight head-coaching jobs over the past two cycles, earning second interviews with the Colts, Falcons, Panthers, Seahawks and Texans."

While the Panthers' defense has struggled this season, the context is important. Any defensive unit losing their best player is going to have issues, and this one only got one game out of superstar defensive tackle Derrick Brown before he went down for the year. They also lost veteran linebacker Shaq Thompson to a season-ending injury early on and only got edge rusher DJ Wonnum into the lineup two weeks ago for the first time in 2024.

So, while Carolina fans may not feel any regret if Evero leaves to coach another team next season, they might want to rethink that initial shrug-off. Last year when the unit had far better personnel and wasn't ravaged by injuries this group performed far better than the numbers suggested. Smart teams will recognize that and there's a decent chance one will roll the dice on Evero as their next head coach.