Does Panthers HC Dave Canales need to rethink Ejiro Evero’s role with defense faltering?
The Carolina Panthers are 3-11 with three games remaining on their schedule. So, naturally, fans are curious about the future of the franchise with the playoffs officially out of the picture.
The Observer has brought back the weekly Panthers mailbag to answer some fan questions in Week 16.
Here are three standout questions from social media:
The ongoing Ejiro Evero evaluation
Leonard asks: Should the Panthers move on from Ejiro Evero NOW?
The Observer has been measured in its evaluation of Evero to this point.
He lost his best player, defensive end Derrick Brown, in Week 1. He also lost his veteran leader, linebacker Shaq Thompson, within the first month of the season. And the unit didn’t have a ton of talent to begin with.
But Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys really put his unit’s failures into perspective.
Dallas came into the game averaging roughly 92 rushing yards per game, and the group finished with 211 rushing yards against Carolina. For what it’s worth, Dallas running back Rico Dowdle had his third straight game of 100-plus yards, one of only three backs in the NFL to do so this season, the others being Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon.
Cowboys backup QB Cooper Rush threw for a career-high three touchdowns and put up 214 yards without surrendering an interception. The Panthers also only managed one sack — via a cornerback blitz from Jaycee Horn — against a makeshift offensive line.
Evero has a reputation of a being a good coach and a strong coordinator, especially against the pass. He has proven to be capable of calling a defense, both in Denver in 2022 and in Carolina last year. But this year’s defense is a significant problem.
The Panthers were gifted a fumble recovery in the red zone on Sunday. Had Rush not inexplicably botched a hand-off exchange, Carolina probably loses that game by 26 to 30 points. And again, they were playing against a backup QB — though Rush has an 8-4 all-time record as a starter for the Cowboys — and a banged-up OL.
Through 14 games, the Panthers defense ranks 31st in total yards allowed average (386.2), 32nd (read: last) in rushing yards allowed average (173.0) and 12th in passing yards allowed average (213.2).
To put it politely, the unit is awful by the numbers. The eye test offers support for those findings as well.
Evero is well-respected internally, and Canales has offered his public support for his defensive coordinator. But this beat writer wonders if a mutual parting of the ways makes sense for both sides at this point.
Evero was passed over twice for the head coach gig — in 2023 and 2024 — and then was matched with Frank Reich before being linked to Canales as a holdover.
It’s worth wondering if Evero would prefer a change of scenery, and if Canales would want to bring in his own defensive staff.
As previously mentioned by The Observer, Canales has a history with former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh, who will be available this offseason. Philadelphia Eagles defensive coach Clint Hurtt, a former Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator, also has a relationship with Canales.
Another option could be defensive line coach Todd Wash. While his unit hasn’t been particularly strong this season, Wash did lead a surging Jacksonville Jaguars defense to the AFC Championship game following the 2017 season.
Wash has legitimate defensive coordinator experience and a Seattle background with Canales, and he would likely switch things up with the front if he were to land that job. He ran a hybrid, 4-3 under front in Jacksonville, for what it’s worth.
Evero’s status, overall, feels more open-ended than it did about a month ago. The pass defense has improved mightily over the previous few weeks, but the run defense has been the league’s most porous.
Evero, again, is a quality coordinator, but it’s fair to wonder if a mutual break would make sense for him and the Panthers.
Abandoning the run
Dave asks: Why did we abandon the run game?
The Panthers ran the ball just four times in the second half of the 30-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday. After averaging just 3.6 yards per carry in the first half, Carolina essentially abandoned the run, as Dave said, in the final two quarters.
The context, though, is key. The Panthers, down 10-7, fumbled the ball away on the opening possession of the second half. That turnover then led to a touchdown for Dallas, making it a 10-point game with 12:46 left in the third quarter. The Panthers then went three-and-out in response, and the Cowboys tacked on another touchdown to follow that Carolina’s failed drive.
So, with a 24-7 deficit, the Panthers, down by 17, went into pass-heavy mode. Running back Chuba Hubbard — who entered the game with 1,011 rushing yards — received just three second-half carries, while Young scored on a six-yard scramble.
The Panthers didn’t need to get away from the run completely after the Cowboys put up back-to-back touchdown-scoring drives. There was still about 19 minutes left in the game. But, with a hurry-up offense in place, the passing game predictably took the wheel, and Carolina paid for it with six second-half sacks. Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons, in particular, made life difficult for the passing offense and the line protecting Young.
Parsons is a notable game-wrecker, and with the Panthers constantly trying to sling the ball, Carolina fell into a pressure trap. Parsons had two of the five sacks following Young’s third-quarter fumble.
On one hand, the urgency to create quick scoring opportunities was valid. However, when the passing game — missing Xavier Legette, who left early with a groin injury — started to predictably struggle, Canales could have helped matters by going back to the running game. The Cowboys didn’t have a particularly strong run defense coming into this one, and that phase was bailed out by the big lead.
For the first time in a while, it felt like Canales was out-coached when the going got tough.
Ickey Ekwonu’s future in Carolina
Rob asks: Do we move on from Ickey Ekwonu (under contract so make him a backup), and if so, how realistic would it be to either find a pass rush left tackle specialist in later rounds of the draft or free agency?
Ekwonu, prior to Sunday, was having a very strong year. Yes, there have been false start penalties and the occasional pass rush blip, but for the most part, through the first 13 games, he had been dependable.
He’s still one of the best run-blocking tackles, whether left or right, in the NFL.
But Sunday was rough. As mentioned earlier in this column, the Panthers got away from the run in the second half and that exposed Ekwonu a bit, especially as Parsons got into full-on attack mode.
Pro Football Focus (PFF) clocked Ekwonu with allowing six total pressures against Dallas, including two sacks. He wasn’t the only guy to falter on the line — left guard Damien Lewis played his worst game of the year and also gave up two sacks. Right guard Robert Hunt and right tackle Taylor Moton were also charged with a sack each. Moton’s sack was his first allowed all year.
Ekwonu, on the season, is still graded out as the 38th best tackle in the NFL out of 134 qualifiers, according to PFF. From a math standpoint, there are 64 starting tackle positions in the league, and Ekwonu would fit into the middle of that group by that evaluation. Yes, he’s clearly a better run blocker than pass blocker, but he’s only given up five sacks on the year, per PFF. Two of those sacks came in this one game.
Having said all of that, it’s too soon to throw in the towel on the 2022 first-round pick at left tackle. He’s arguably improved as much as anyone on the squad that was held over from last year.
Could the Panthers look to fortify depth at the position in free agency or the draft? Sure. They tried that with Yosh Nijman, who struggled a bit in his two starts.
This beat writer is intrigued by what the team does with Moton and Swiss Army knife blocker, Brady Christensen.
Moton has a huge cap number ($31.3 million, per Over The Cap) in the final year of his deal in 2024 and a contract extension would lighten that load quite a bit. If Moton were to be extended, the Panthers would probably move on from Christensen. If Christensen were to be retained, though, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him push starters at a few positions next summer.
Relying on the later rounds of the draft for an immediate contributor at left tackle is a difficult outlook. Though, it would make sense to try to develop someone behind Ekwonu next year for insurance.
Update: Some of Ekwonu’s stats from PFF were updated to reflect the current totals and standings.
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
