Dave Canales confirms the Panthers are staying the course by announcing one move fans aren’t going to be happy about
The Carolina Panthers have retain DC Ejiro Evero for the 2026 season.
The Carolina Panthers’ season might not have ended in the best way after the first-round loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday, but it’s still a way better ending than anyone might have hoped to have this season.
The Panthers found their identity, put together some massive wins, and gained real playoff experience while rebuilding the fanbase in the process.
This season was a major sign of growth from the organization, especially for head coach Dave Canales and quarterback Bryce Young. At the same time, the Panthers finished the year 8-9 and ended the season with a three-game losing streak, so there’s a lot of improvement needed to take that next step as a team. However, one move fans were begging for won’t come to fruition.
Dave Canales announces the Panthers will be retaining DC Ejiro Evero for 2026 season
“I have complete trust in Ejiro,” Canales told reporters on Sunday. “Love the way that he’s brought this group to play quality football together. He’s got my full support. Love our scheme, love what we do there. Getting our guys to play together when we execute this scheme is really difficult to play against, and our guys found a way to play together, communicate together, and the style of play that we’re looking for.”
The tone from the fanbase couldn’t be more different regarding Evero’s future with the team after Saturday’s loss. I thought the Panthers needed a more aggressive approach and a leader on the defensive side of the ball to avoid making the team complacent.
Yet it’s worth acknowledging the improvement Evero made with the unit this season, turning the defense into a respectable one after having one of the worst defenses in NFL history the season prior.
“I just love where we’re headed that way,” Canales added. “As always, with all of our schemes, we’ll look at it and continue to evolve, we’ll continue push the envelope and move forward from there.”
Keeping the consistency with a young defensive roster makes sense, and I’m sure it played a role in this decision. Not to mention, the players love playing for Evero and quickly went to bat for him in his defense after how things ended against the Rams, giving up the game-winning touchdown.
“The people that’s questioning it, let me see what you be doing. Show me your credentials and how you know coverage, how you know when to blitz, when not to blitz,” cornerback Mike Jackson said after the game. “They got armchair quarterbacks. But at the end of the day, you’re not doing this for a living.”
Dave Canales holds off answering whether or not he will continue calling plays on offense
The other suggestion I mentioned earlier this morning to help the Panthers take that next step involved Canales handing over play-calling duties next season to offensive coordinator Brad Idzik and focusing more on the head coaching duties. Here’s what Canales had to say about that idea:
“All of these questions are stuff that we’re going to be talking about as a staff coming up in the next couple of days,” Canales said. “Trying to get a chance to regroup on the whole season and how it came out. We’re always going to look for ways to try to improve what we’re doing…
“I gotta take all of those things into consideration. Look at the concepts that we’re running, first and foremost. Are these things that we want to continue with? Do we need to make some tweaks and evolve? I’ll be really critical of myself; that’s a part of my weekly process with our staff. Just having those conversations about how we can put our guys in the best position.”
The Panthers better find real ways to improve this offseason. As great as it was to see this team in the playoffs, this was still an 8-9 team that fell backward into the playoffs and was extremely inconsistent on a weekly basis. Keeping things status quo won’t change much in 2026.
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