The Carolina Panthers made a bit of a head-scratching move in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft—trading up to nab University of Oregon linebacker DJ Johnson, a relative unknown, with the 80th overall pick. And now, exactly five months later, our heads remain itchy just thinking about it.
Johnson, through three weeks, has yet to play a snap for Carolina. He did not hit the field in their season-opening loss to the Atlanta Falcons and was not dressed for either of their outings against the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks.
Buy Panthers TicketsDefensive coordinator Ejiro Evero was asked about the healthy scratches on Thursday morning.
“Well, ya know, we’ve been really blessed,” he replied. “We have a lot of good players at that position. Justin [Houston], Brian [Burns], Yetur’s [Gross-Matos] been playin’ really well, [Amaré] Barno.
“He’s doin’ a great job, I would say that. We like where he is, we like his progress that he’s makin’ and it’s just a matter of him findin’ those opportunities. But there’s always those fluctuations and it’s week by week and we’ll see what happens.”
Perhaps ironically enough, the Panthers were notably thin at the position all offseason—even to the point where Evero stated that they needed players to “step up” off the edge. They’ve also been without Marquis Haynes Sr., who was likely to serve as the first backup to Burns and Houston.
As for who’s been getting those opportunities, Evero was also asked about the early progress of Gross-Matos.
“Yeah, he’s done a great job,” he said. “He’s on the edge, he’s an outside backer, he’s gonna play defensive end for us in our nickel package. And he can rush, he can set the edge, he can play the run game—he’s done all those things really well.
“And when you look at those known passing situations when you’re just tryin’ to get your best rusher—regardless of position—his ability to move inside, show that flexibility, to rush on guards, to rush on centers, to work all those pass games inside. And he’s done a great job of learnin’ it and showin’ that flexibility and it’s been really good for our team.”
Despite being listed as an outside linebacker, Gross-Matos has seen some work from the inside. The 2020 second-rounder, who is on the last year of his rookie deal, has recorded 1.5 sacks through three outings.
