The Carolina Panthers made a big coaching decision after the team’s Week 8 loss to the Green Bay Packers to move on from defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, and two assistants, and it was a necessary decision for head coach Dave Canales to make.

This is a decision Canales should have made years ago, and there is a sense of this being a move that was made too late. However, even at 3-4 after back-to-back losses, the Panthers are still on top of the NFC South and the long break coming off a “Thursday Night Football” game made this the ideal timing to make such a change.

As for what changes this move would lead to on the field, and what the expectations should be moving forward, we finally got to hear from the team’s interim defensive coordinator Todd Wash on Thursday.

What should Carolina Panthers fans expect to see defensively under Todd Wash?

First off, Wash is a respected and experienced defensive coordinator in this league. He has history working with Canales and general manager Dan Morgan. One of the biggest differences Canales wanted to see after making this move was better communication, and having that trust already established with Wash will go a long way in that regard.

As for Wash’s experience, he spent five years as the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2016-2020 and his best year came in 2017 when he led a Top-3 defense in total yards and points allowed. The rest of his tenure was a mixed bag of success, but experience is still experience in this league.

“Obviously, it’s very important (to get this opportunity),” Wash told reporters on Thursday. “We had some good success in Jacksonville on defense. So, it’s important that I can do everything I can to help the organization and Dave, first and foremost. It’s going to be a challenge, obviously, and we’re excited about it. We’re going to try and set a culture on defense. We are going to play fast, hard, and physical. If we make mistakes, we’re going to do it a million miles an hour.”

That last part is something Panthers fans should already be onboard with. Under Evero’s watch, the Panthers were too conservative in the previous scheme and not nearly as aggressive as a modern defense has to be in this league. That’s going to change this week.

That aggressive approach is also something the players brought up earlier in the week in talking about how there won’t be as much “read-and-react” from this unit under Wash, especially up-front on the defensive line.

“If you look at how our roster is built, Turk (Wharton) did that at Kansas City, Lee (Hunter) did that at Texas Tech, Aaron (Hall) did that at Duke, they have that skill set,” Wash explained. “We were playing them a little bit different – right, wrong, or indifferent – I don’t think there’s any answer to that. But, this is what their skill set tells us. And that’s the most important thing. If you don’t have the skill set to play an attack front, if you don’t have the skill set to play a read-and-react front, then let’s not put them in those positions. I believe in an attack front. I want to reestablish the line of scrimmage. I want to knock people back. And we have to be able to get after the quarterback.”

Canales also mentioned that a big reason behind this coaching change was the unit’s production in the run game. The Panthers have allowed 140.7 rushing yards per game this season, including two games allowing over 250+ yards on the ground. Playing more attacking and less reacting will help in that aspect as well.

The biggest challenge facing Wash is going to be the cornerback position. The Panthers are down Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, and Akayleb Evans – all on the IR – while rookie Will Lee III is also banged up with a hamstring injury. The Panthers are stretched thin at the position and it doesn’t help that the previous coaching didn’t put them in favorable spots.

“Obviously, we’re down a couple of guys, but I have faith in who we have,” Wash said. “I like where we’re at and (Marco Wilson’s) got a certain skill set where I think we can get something out of him.”

As with anything, change won’t be easy and it’s going to be a major challenge for the Panthers this weekend to adjust to these changes in the first game. However, the Panthers seem really excited about this move and the results it will bring.