Before this afternoon, the Seattle Seahawks were the only without a head coach to have interviewed Ejiro Evero for their vacancy. Well, the vacancy has been filled—and it’s not been filled by the Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator.
As first reported by NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport on Wednesday, the Seahawks are hiring Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald for the position. That will leave the Washington Commanders, who have not spoken to Evero, as the only organization with a vacancy atop their coaching staff.
While this development may indicate that Evero will indeed be sticking around in Charlotte, Joe Person of The Athletic suggests there could be another way out for the 43-year-old. Person wrote the following in a column from this morning:
It was only a couple of weeks ago that The Athletic mentioned a possible pairing in Carolina of Evero and Johnson, who have the same agent. But now there’s a sense in NFL circles that Evero is more interested in pursuing defensive coordinator positions elsewhere than returning to the Panthers.
Even with a new head coach in Dave Canales, the Panthers are reportedly hoping to retain Evero. Since being hired, Canales has made a number of tweaks on the offensive side of the ball—bringing in Harold Goodwin (assistant head coach/run game coordinator), Bernie Parmalee (running backs coach), Rob Moore (wide receivers coach) and Joe Gilbert (offensive line coach.)
Person also notes that they’ve blocked interview requests for the popular play-caller from the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins and New York Giants.
So, we’ll have to see what the rest of the week brings for Canales, Evero and the Panthers.
