Hello CSR! I recently broke down the whirlwind of a 2025 season for the Carolina Panthers defense, and while there were certainly bumps and bruises along the way, it seems Dan Morgan and his front office have laid a solid groundwork to continue building a quality unit. Sure, the pieces they’ve assembled have played vastly above the sum of their parts on paper, but what’s become clear in the last 13 weeks of football is simple; there is a plan and vision in place for this group. So, we broke down what they’ve done so far, but where do they go from here?
The Near Term: PLAYOFFS?!
The Panthers somehow find themselves “in the hunt” when people/pundits talk about the NFC playoff picture. While the offense’s high points have much to do with this current situation, the defense’s consistency as a bend-but-don’t-break unit that is excelling within Ejiro Evero’s scheme has mostly been the bedrock for this team even being in these conversations. Sure, not every game was pretty, but the Panthers defense consistently kept games within striking distance for a Panthers win, sometimes even putting the team over the top with timely turnovers and key stops limiting chances for the opponent to otherwise flip the game script from neutral to very negative.
So, looking at the remaining schedule, these 7-6 Panthers face the Saints, the Buccaneers, the Seahawks, and the Bucs again to close out the season. 3 of those 4 offenses on paper pose many problems for this defense, while the last time the team faced the Saints, big plays by their offense swung the game. So I would argue that the defense is in for a big challenge every week going forward. Ejiro Evero’s schemes and play calling will need to be top notch, and the personnel will have to reduce their mistakes and big plays. The name of the game is going to be simple, maintain the same identity that has made this defense successful in their wins. Ejiro Evero’s whole game plan seems to revolve around forcing the opposing offense to work for every yard, by reducing big plays and forcing errors by the offense, whether it be by the quarterback, pass protection, or the ball carrier. The Evero philosophy follows a zone heavy coverage scheme, however he mixes it up consistently, blitzes in unpredictable ways, and thrives on making tackles/plays to limit yardage. That’s how this defense wins, which means they’ll need to lock down guys like Chris Olave, Mike Evans, Emeka Ebuka, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. These games are going to challenge this Panthers secondary, a unit that seems to have caught fire in the last several weeks.
And by that same token, they’ll be facing 3 teams who will want to run the football against them. The Saints will always hand the ball off to Alvin Kamara, the Bucs finally have Bucky Irving returning from injuries that kept him out most of the season, and the Seahawks consistently keep both of their running backs involved. For the Panthers, they’ve gotten gashed in some weeks but kept running games in check in others. Winning that battle in the trenches will be big for Derrick Brown and co. But if they can do all of that, and possibly squeeze out 3 of 4 wins, they might just be in the playoffs. And that’s where this defense can truly thrive. The playoffs can be a war of attrition, especially in colder weather situations. Once they make the dance, all bets are off the table. But in order to get there, they’ll have to take some risks. As Dave Canales said last week regarding the offense, he wanted to “steal a series or two from the Rams.” The defense will have to continue to do that to hang with the heavyweights of the NFC, which they’ve shown they can do in their biggest wins of the season. They don’t need to be the best defense, they just have to win one more series than the other squad.
Regardless of what happens during the playoffs, the future of this defense largely hinges on Ejiro Evero, or finding a worthy successor. Evero is currently not under contract for the 2026 season, but unless he finds himself a head coaching job (very possible), he may be inclined to come back to Carolina and continue building the defense to his vision. The Panthers finally devoted significant resources and capital to improving this defense after two years of trying to revamp the offense, and he has shown he can feel a very competitive group even without premium pieces everywhere. But, all of that hinges on his desire to actually come back, and other teams not giving him the head coaching job he’s interviewed for numerous times in the past. So in that regard, if he’s gone, the number one priority of the off-season should be finding his successor.
As far as the future outlook for the players, they have foundational pieces in Derrick Brown, Jaycee Horn, and Tre’Von Moehrig all locked down to long term deals. They have some solid complimentary pieces in guys like Turk Wharton and Mike Jackson, and promising young former draft picks in Trevin Wallace, Nic Scourton, Princely Umanmielen, Lathan Ransom, and Chau Smith-Wade. But more work needs to be done. As pointed out by several commenters, the Panthers don’t have a ton of cap space to bring in high price free agents next season. While I’m sure they’ll do some cap gymnastics to free up more, this past Offseason showed the blue print to continuous improvement, and that is nailing the Draft. They’ll need to add an inside linebacker, another safety, more defensive line depth, and an eventual successor to Mike Jackson at outside corner. All positions could use some reinforcements, and the EDGE position could use more juice no matter where they find it. But if they can continue with the Evero scheme or a similar defensive scheme identity, they can build something that is viable long term.
Its not going to be easy, and there is more work to be done. But after this season, there’s an executable vision for the Panthers defense to once again rise to being a feared unit.