The Carolina Panthers' Early Down Safety Pressure: Base Rain/Lightning
Ejiro Evero has made a name for himself in NFL circles as one of the league's best defensive coordinators. Against his opponents in the NFC South, he used pre-snap rotations to hide Safety blitzes.
One of the most popular names circling during the latest NFL hiring cycle was that of Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. Though only in his second year calling a defense full-time, Evero has quickly ascended to one of the top names on many NFL teams’ wish lists. Panthers’ brass blocked Evero from leaving, as he will remain in Carolina with newly appointed Head Coach Dave Canales, who will come to Charlotte after a stint as the Buccaneers offensive coordinator. Needless to say, Canales is very aware of who Evero is.
Evero got his start in the NFL as an assistant under famed DC Monte Kiffin on Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay staff in 2007. From there, he went to San Fransisco in ’11, where he stayed until ’15. Evero spent one year in Green Bay and then became a part of Sean McVay’s inaugural staff for the Rams, where he stayed until ’22.
Initially, Evero worked under Wade Phillips, who was let go following the ’19 season for Brandon Staley. The defense you see in Carolina stems from the Fangio tree, and the language is rooted in what Staley brought to LA in ’20. After Staley left to take over the Chargers, Evero became the passing game coordinator under Raheem Morris (now HC of the Falcons).
One year later, Evero was the sole playcaller in Denver, where he did an excellent job. While the offense and QB Russell Wilson’s lack of production dominated the headlines, the defense quietly put together a solid year. Under Evero, the Broncos finished 13th in Total DVOA and were a top-10 passing unit under that metric (FTN). From Week 1 to 13, Denver had the fourth-best defensive EPA (-.081) and the third-best passing EPA at -.093 ( RBSDM). After the firing of Nathaniel Hackett, a good friend of Evero’s, the coach moved on to Carolina.
Though the defense finished 25th in DVOA, there were multiple bright spots along the way in Carolina. After the first several weeks of the season, the defense stabilized. One of the main factors in the Panthers’ lack of success can be found in their personnel. EDGE Brian Burns is the only true star in the unit, and the secondary had solid pieces in Safety Vonn Bell (now back with the Bengals) and oft-injured CB Jaycee Horn, but not enough to overcome issues on offense and against opponent’s run games.
Evero and Raheem Morris have very similar philosophies. Both like to use post-snap movement in the secondary, where the Rams and Panthers are tops in the league. In each system, the defense prefers to align in a two-high alignment and rotate to a Cover 3 scheme post-snap; this is unique to the system concerning the volume of usage. Carolina ranked fifth in middle-of-the-field closed (MOFC) coverage usage and ranked second behind the Colts in Cover 3 usage this year (PFF).
Playing ‘Base’ (3-4) at the fourth highest rate (31.1%), Evero had a diverse set of calls to counter most offensive personnel. In their best game, concerning DVOA, against the Falcons, the Panthers used a Safety pressure that used their typical early-down Cover 3 contour to throw a curve ball at the offense. The coverage appears to be a typical 3-Buzz or strong rotation with the Safety as the Strong Hook, only to see the Safety blitz off the edge to the defense playing Cover 2. Closed-to-open (C/O) is not a rotational tool used at volume in the scheme.
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