Hello CSR! We’re coming off a wild week following the most recent Panthers loss to the Packers, one that saw them decide to jettison defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and defensive passing game coordinator Jonathan Cooley. It was quite a jarring move to make in the middle of a season where despite a myriad of injuries along the defense, the Panthers still have a shot at the playoffs. As far as the Evero firing goes, I still haven’t quite settled on how I feel about it. I think I am currently leaning
towards that it makes sense, but probably should have happened following the 2025 season rather than spending the 2026 off-season building around the scheme Evero would use. There were many questionable personnel decisions like not playing 2025 standout UDFA Corey Thornton or 3rd year CB Chau Smith-Wade, along with subbing out some of the younger guys with upside like Princely Umanmielen when the pass rush has struggled. All in all, I think the decision ultimately makes logical sense and I am looking forward to seeing what kind of changes the Panthers make post-Evero to try and right the ship, or at the very least keep it floating with duct tape until they get back Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, and Jaelan Phillips. The biggest question mark moving forward is going to be what the team does with their depleted CB room. Recently brought back coach and former cornerback DeAngelo Hall will have his work cut out for him. Let’s take a look at the current room as it stands.
Will Lee III
The 2026 4th round pick became the de facto CB1 following the injuries to Horn and Jackson. He’s logged 7 pass deflections in 7 games played and continues to progress after being thrown right into the fire. The Panthers planned on him being heavily involved early, as he manned one of the boundary spots in nickel formations when the cornerback room was fully healthy. Unfortunately, he is day to day right now with a hamstring injury, which means they may miss him for at least a game, possibly more depending on how his recovery goes. Not great, but the experience he’s getting this season as a 4th round rookie should prove very valuable from a long term perspective.
Chau Smith-Wade
The former 5th round pick played quite a bit since his rookie season in 2024. He’s played in 36 career games with 11 starts, though curiously his defensive snap counts went down this season following a career high 63% of snaps played on defense in 2025. This season, he’s only accounted for 21% of the defensive snaps, playing almost as many snaps on special teams (86) as he has on defense (88). This is a very curious decision considering all of the injuries surrounding this position group. However, that could change this week, especially if Will Lee can’t go. The Panthers primarily used Chau as a nickel corner, so prior to Evero’s firing, they were playing with additional safeties rather than with as much traditional nickel sets. I think if you’re looking to change the fortunes of the secondary, this is the week to throw him out there and see what happens. And that’s if they even have a choice pending Will Lee’s status.
Malcolm DeWalt IV
DeWalt, the final member of the active roster on this list, was brought in on the practice squad on October 24th, and promoted to the active roster ahead of the Packers game last week. He was an undrafted free agent this season, made the 53 man roster for the Atlanta Falcons, but was ultimately waived in October after being a healthy scratch for six games. He made one special teams tackle last week and played no defensive snaps. He played for 3 different colleges prior to entering the NFL, so I don’t really know what to expect from him should they be forced to play him this week.
Practice Squad options
The Panthers (as of this writing, per their team site) have 5 corners on their practice squad. They released Robert Rochell on Tuesday. Most likely, they will be calling up 2 or 3 of them for Sundays game depending on what happens with Will Lee.
The first one I have to highlight is Marco Wilson. He’s a former 4th round pick from 2021 who has bounced around the league before landing on the Panthers practice squad on October 6th. He was called on to start against the Packers, being credited with 2 pass deflections and 8 total tackles. Of course, the Panthers defense was still not great in that game as the Packers tore them apart in the passing game, but it was an impressive showing for Wilson and I’d expect him to get called up again and possibly start this week.
Next, we have 2025 UDFA Corey Thornton. Thornton was an impressive preseason story and played in 12 games for the Panthers in 2025, and managed to break in to the corner rotation before a broken fibula ended his season. Curiously, he hasn’t been called up at all during the Panthers injury woes from the practice squad. That might change this week depending on what kind of changes the Panthers are making and what options they have for significant playing time.
Rounding out the last of the names is DeVonta Smith, Zion Childress, and Caelen Carson. Smith spent the entire off-season on the roster before being waived during final roster cuts and being added to the practice squad, so he has about as much familiarity as you could ask for from an undrafted rookie. Childress had stints with the Cowboys and Texans since entering as a UDFA in 2025. Carson was drafted in the 5th round pick by the Cowboys in 2024, and has 8 starts in his career. He could very well see some time depending on what decisions the Panthers make during the near future of the post-Evero defense.
In closing, the Panthers have some… interesting decisions to make going into their next few games. It doesn’t appear they will be looking for cornerback help outside of the usual roster churning of the NFL season, which makes sense for a team that hasn’t made a ton of trades during the season under Dave Canales. I could see a low risk/low price move potentially being made, but dealing a high pick or even mid round pick for a corner doesn’t seem to be something they will consider. Personally, I’d really like to see them give Chau Smith-Wade and Corey Thornton some opportunities, and I was impressed with Marco Wilson despite getting thrown out there with less than a month under his belt in this scheme. Caelen Carson could also see some time. But either way, they’ll have do a lot of things schematically to mask this weakness currently. They may look to play more man coverage and press to change things up, or they may sit back in the same soft cushion zones we have grown accustomed to. Maybe some calculated aggression in coverage will help?
What are your thoughts, Panthers fans?
