New season, same Carolina Panthers’ defense.
After an offseason filled with hope and optimism, Dave Canales was once again outcoached. This time around, by Liam Coen in his first game as the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach.
Dan Morgan focused on revamping what was the worst defense by a distance in the league last season. Fans were promised the Panthers would be stout against the run after six straight 200-yard rushing games to end the 2024 campaign. Instead, they witnessed another unmitigated disaster.
Under the guidance of defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Jacksonville racked up 200 rushing yards to make it seven in a row for Carolina. This was the worst possible start for a coach who is rapidly falling out of favor.
Ejiro Evero is under pressure one game into his third Carolina Panthers season
Even though it's just Week 1, it’s impossible to imagine team owner David Tepper will sit around much longer and allow this defensive incompetence to continue. There is no doubting that Evero is an exceptional coach, but his talent evaluations and scheme fit are just not up to par in Carolina.
Without the excuse of injuries to hide behind, fans saw a pitiful run defense in Evero’s scheme once again. This problem was only amplified by the Panthers' bottom-tier linebacking core, and one of the worst starting safeties league-wide in Nick Scott.
Scott was given a vote of confidence by his head coach during preseason when Canales said he was “quarterbacking the defense.” The only quarterback that comes to mind when I see the defensive back is JaMarcus Russell.
He is at best a fringe roster player with some special teams acumen. Starting him every week is a detriment to this team.
This was abundantly clear when Travis Etienne Jr. broke off a 71-yard run with Scott unsurprisingly missing a key tackle. We even saw his lack of effort on Jaycee Horn’s exceptional one-handed pick.
With Scott leading the way, he jogged right past two Jaguars players, allowing Horn to be tackled almost immediately.
Jaycee Horn ONE-HANDED pick!
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025
CARvsJAX on FOXhttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/VJYtGbVNds
It just seems the Panthers aren't suited to Evero’s base 3-4 scheme. The lack of pressure on quarterback Trevor Lawrence was another major stumbling block that held them back.
Patrick Jones II played 62 percent of the defensive snaps and never looked capable of generating consistent pressure aside from a few flashes early on. For context, the Panthers' Day 2 picks, Nic Scourton and Princley Umanmielen, played just 27% and 12% of snaps, respectively. Scourton played just two more snaps than D.J. Johnson.
Canales can wax lyrical about Evero’s scheme all he wants. But if the Panthers continue to fail miserably, the position of the defensive coordinator will soon become untenable.