Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero may be retaining his job heading into the 2025 season, but a handful of his assistants won’t be sticking around with him.
According to ESPN senior NFL report Jeremy Fowler, the team is making several coaching changes to the defensive staff. Fowler posted on Wednesday that the Panthers will be parting ways with outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, secondary coach Bert Watts and defensive quality control coach Bobby Maffei.
The #Panthers are making several staff changes on defense, moving on from secondary coach Bert Watts, outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu and quality control Bobby Maffei, per league sources.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) January 8, 2025
Head coach Dave Canales, after affirming Evero’s return on Monday, didn’t rule out changes to the staff.
“We have a lot of things to evaluate, you know, over the next couple of days and into the offseason to reflect on our schemes, to reflect on personnel, to reflect on the guys we have here going forward,” Canales told reporters. “There’s a lot of important conversations to be had on all of those factors and that will be great to have.”
The Panthers set a new NFL record for most points allowed in a season (534) in 2024.
