By Field Level Media
Oct 30 (Field Level Media) - The Carolina Panthers fired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and defensive passing game coordinator Jonathan Cooley on Friday morning.
Defensive line coach Todd Wash was named interim defensive coordinator and will call the defensive plays for head coach Dave Canales, the team announced.
The moves come after the Panthers (3-4) allowed 70 points in two losses over a five-day stretch, including Thursday night's 27-19 setback at Green Bay.
"Ultimately,
this is my decision," Carolina coach Dave Canales said Friday. "This falls squarely under the responsibilities of the head coach. And so, as I was evaluating it and looking for what was best for the 2026 Carolina Panthers, this was a decision that we discussed and weighed in all the factors, the timing of it, the position of our group, all of those things, to make the best decision going forward. But ultimately it had to come from me, and it had to come from something that I believe in and that I want for our players."
Carolina has allowed 27.6 points and 349.6 yards per contest, which rank 27th and 23rd in the NFL, respectively. The Panthers yielded 59 points in their season-opening loss to the Chicago Bears on Sept. 13 and 43 more in a setback against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Sunday.
The decision comes during an extended break. The Panthers next play Nov. 8 when they host the Denver Broncos.
"The urgency really just comes from myself, our staff, our expectations for our players, across the board," Canales said. "And so, nothing is more urgent than today. Nothing is more urgent than the Denver Broncos game coming up this week. And so, if we can keep that mentality, we keep the focus right in front of us, that allows us to just work on things that we can control, things that we can affect, and finding solutions for those things, and that's a good enough amount of pressure to put. Because I understand the difficulty and challenge of what it is in this league."
Evero, 45, was the defensive coordinator of the Broncos in 2022 before joining the Panthers in the same role in 2023.
Wash, 58, previously served as defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2016-20). He has coached the defensive line with the Detroit Lions (2021-22) and has since been with the Panthers.
"Just from a scheme standpoint, just there's variety," Canales said of Wash's experiences. "There's all this stuff that we've learned in the last couple of years playing this system, and there's all these other things that, just a breadth of experience that Wash can bring into being able to troubleshoot, to find solutions, and ultimately that's what this is about. It's finding solutions, working together and improving and putting our players in a great position to play fast and to accentuate their strengths."
(--Field Level Media)
