Panthers HC Dave Canales explains his decision to fire DC Ejiro Evero

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales had, at least in the past, described his pairing with defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero as a dream. Well, it seemed to have turned into a nightmare on Mint Street.

Canales took the lectern this afternoon, and addressed today's firing of Evero . When asked what led to the move, he pointed to the outlook of the (hopefully) salvageable 2026 season.

"There's just collecting a lot of information over the course of our time that really led to the decision," Canales stated. "Ultimately—when I look at how many games we have in front of us, the position we're at in the division and really just wanted to get the most out of our guys.

"And really, making that decision, I take that responsibility very seriously as the head coach, and I know it's my responsibility to put the players in a position where they feel confident, where they feel ready to go.

"So, just took in a lot of information and came to this conclusion at this point, right now to be able to lay the groundwork for the style of football we wanna play."

That style couldn't have been what we've seen in the past two weeks, specifically last Sunday's embarrassing 43-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers . The Bucs ran over the Panthers for nearly 260 combined rushing yards and three touchdowns, and threw the ball just 11 times.

On Thursday night, in the 27-19 defeat to the Green Bay Packers, Evero failed to scheme up pressure. Despite blitzing on nearly half of Green Bay's dropbacks, the Panthers recorded zero sacks and zero hits on quarterback Jordan Love.

Canales, who added that owner David Tepper and general manager Dan Morgan were consulted on the matter, was then asked what he'd like to see as a result of the change.

"Just wanna see the guys connected," he replied. "I just wanna see them excited about going out there and executing the plan. And playing fast, playing the physical brand. And the effort's been there. Those things are right. But I know that we can make strides with being able to get everybody on the same page, tying in the whole unit."

"And for me, philosophically speaking it starts with the run game. It starts with owning first and second down, and being able to be aggressive and attack in different ways."

Defensive line coach Todd Wash, who has been with the organization since 2023, has taken over as the interim defensive coordinator.

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