Panthers: DC Eric Washington continuing refreshing philosophy
New Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Eric Washington is keeping things the same… and that’s a great thing.
If anyone was worried that new Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Eric Washington would radically change the defense, you can all breathe a little easier. Wednesday, Josh Klein of RiotReport.com wrote a story detailing Washington’s defensive philosophy.
From the sounds if it, there will be not radical changes. Rather, Washington will continue the Panthers’ philosophy of playing according to personnel.
"“Our philosophy and my philosophy doesn’t revolve around defensive concepts as much as it does a culture. We want to be sound with that, we want to be on the high end of that and if we do, it won’t matter what we call. We’ve got great personnel, and our approach has always been and always will be, as long as I’m here, personnel driven.”"
Although this is not some new groundbreaking philosophy (Steve Wilks did this too), it is refreshing in a couple ways. First, the fact that Washington is continuing what the Panthers have done for a while is a great move. On a team full of veterans, it gives them continuity. Considering the defense has been highly successful over the past couple years, if it isn’t broken, why fix it?
Secondly, it appears that Washington isn’t taking a “my way or the highway” approach that you sometimes see with first-year coordinators. In some cases, they force players to adapt to what they want instead of what the player is most comfortable with.
On the surface, it appears as though he is not going to put any of the players in difficult positions. He in a way is going to let them dictate the defense based on their skill level and their abilities. Frankly, I’m not sure why more defensive coordinators do not employ this philosophy.
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What this means to me is that he will put the Carolina Panthers defense in the optimum position to be successful. Hopefully, that correlates to the players maximizing their ability. If that happens, the Panthers could have a Top-5 defense.