5 candidates Carolina Panthers should not hire to replace Frank Reich

On Monday, the Carolina Panthers fired head coach Frank Reich. Of all the names to potentially hire, who should they stay away from?

I'll admit once again to being totally on board with what the Carolina Panthers did this offseason. I thought the coaching staff that Frank Reich assembled was fabulous, and I thought they had a nice free agency period.

In fact, I went as far as to pick them to go 10-7 and win the NFC South division. Boy, was I wrong?

Anyway, the Reich hire seemed doomed from the start. But some of the blame should also be put on general manager Scott Fitterer for the talentless roster he created.

Now the Panthers will embark on their second head coaching search in as many years. There may be some internal candidates that get interviewed, and you can bet that a ton of external guys will get looks as well.

Among everyone that Carolina could hire, who should they stay away from?

Carolina Panthers shouldn't promote Ejiro Evero

Ejiro Evero has now been a part of two straight head coaching firings. He was the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator in 2022 when Nathaniel Hackett got canned. Apparently, he turned down that interim job, likely because he didn't want to step on their friendship.

Evero again is dealing with his head coach getting fired. While I think he's a solid coordinator, I don't necessarily think he's the man for the job.

I get that Evero has had to deal with an injured defense and the offense not being able to extend drives. But at the end of the day, his unit has consistently been among the NFL's worst.

The Panthers' defense ranks No. 30 in points allowed, allowing opponents to score 26.5 points per game. I think Evero could remain in his role in 2024 if the next staff would be willing to keep him, and if he doesn't get a head coaching gig elsewhere.

However, this is also just his second year as a coordinator in the NFL. I think he could use a few more years of being in this role before being seriously viewed as a head coach.