Evero spoke to the media about the identity he’s preparing to create for the defense in his first season with the Panthers.
How you guys all doing how are you Uh will Kunkel Charles Sports Live Queen City News Um yesterday they were saying prank was Saying that you guys will run a 3-4 What have you seen this roster and what Pieces do you see being moved and most Importantly how will you use someone Like Jeremy Chan yeah I mean those are All going to be uh great conversations We're going to have moving forward There's a lot of talented players on This roster you know Mr Burns uh Derek Brown Mr chairman uh JC horn there's a Lot of good players on this roster is One of the reasons that I wanted to be Here be in this organization and uh but You know it's always an evaluation Process and uh you know we'll see what Happens with a lot of the guys that are Their status is uh in question right now In terms of free agency and as we move Forward and put this thing together you Know that's where we kind of figure Those things out so Charlotte Observer he brought up Brian Burns there's a lot made of him Potentially coming or going during the Trade deadline last year I'm just Curious how big of an asset was that When you were looking at potential Defense coordinator jobs and seeing that You had a guy like that at the edge of Your position oh yeah no I mean him
Amongst others but uh yeah it's Definitely a big part of it uh talented Player Um you know I think a guy that really Has the ability to be an elite Edge Rusher Edge player in this league and uh So we're excited to work with them We know why they chose you Um can you talk about elaborate on why You decided to take the position Well you know I am very very fortunate And appreciative of the opportunity from Mr Tapper and Coach Reich Um it's uh you know this has been a a First class organization in my opinion Um just from afar watching the observing Them they've been as successful they've Had a lot of periods of success Um you know multiple Super Bowl Appearances Um but like we've just been talking About like as you look at the roster you Look at some of the players here look at What coach rice bring in with in terms Of coaching staff there's just so many Pieces here that are just attractive to Success and uh so that's the biggest Reason it's like you know I wanted to be In a situation where we can we could win And win is the most important thing so Thank you Yep Yep what have you noticed In the last few years
Well the first thing I observe is they Play hard right they play with great Effort and that's always going to be the Starting point of our defenses and uh And there's Big Time Players and uh There's a lot of uh youthful talent and That we uh we're hoping that we can get The best out of and uh so when you Combine that effort and when you combine Those uh players you know I think the Sky's the limit that's what we're Excited about Charlotte thank you I'm curious Well I first started off in Green Bay in 2016 when I was this quality control Coach so I was doing a lot of you know Don was a coordinator and I was doing All of the grunt work and uh and uh then Transitioned into last year uh where It's uh you know as a first time Coordinator you know there's a lot of Things that you really don't know about The job even though you feel like you're Prepared for the opportunity until you Get into that seat and uh coach Capers Is beyond uh uh you know in terms of a Guide to how to do the job and do it at A high level in an elite level and uh Someone to bounce ideas off of and uh Just uh you know a man of Great Character as well and so all of those Things as a first-time coordinator you Know were so valuable to me to help Joe
Person with the athletic welcome thank You How would you characterize your your Relationship Well it's uh you know it's a Collaboration you know it's a friendship And it's a collaboration uh he's a he's A dear friend and uh he's somebody that Um that we work together with and uh in A big thing I tell everybody like this Is not my defense it's me the uh the Coaches especially Dom's uh influence And the players we're all putting this Thing together and uh we're Collaborating to make a defense and make The best defense possible and Dom is Definitely a huge part of that you talk About kind of what you've drawn from him Do you kind of keep him Young And Hip in A way too Dom stays plenty Young by Himself Carolina Blitz you talked about your Evaluation process can you go a little Deeper into what that looks like and Have you reached out to any of the Players yet yeah no we've made contact With some of the players and uh you know Really it's just you know you know the Players from afar and there's probably Some crossover tape and things like that That you see but like you really don't Know him and so it's really studying Them what they do well where they can Improve how body fit into our system but
At the end of the day it's like we got To make the system fit around them so Process like for you emotionally coming In here wanting to be a head coach Particularly in this building Interviewing not getting the job and Then coming back as a DC just wrapping Your head around that um you know I Don't think too much about that you know My Approach my entire career has been Hey wherever you are that's where you Are and I'm not really worried about the Next job I'm worried about the job That's a present and uh I think you know The best way to advance in this league Is to do a great job where you are and That's my concern Um uh very fortunate that I had the Opportunities I had these last couple of Weeks and uh you know it was great Experience for me to interview for those Jobs but you know once that process is Over and once I sign the papers to come To Carolina none of that really matters Anymore it's about building a winning Program here and uh so that's kind of How I view it Ellis William Charlotte Observer um can you expand on what Coaches in recent league history you'd Credit as your influences or pillars for The defense you plan on bringing here Carolina well it's a whole lot of them Um you know I've been very fortunate to Be around a lot of great coordinators a
Lot of great head coaches um you know Starting off with Monty kiffin in Tampa And uh you know going to Vic fangio in San Francisco Dom obviously in Green Bay Wade Phillips Um Raheem Morris Brandon Staley and uh You know I just think like when I when You're blessed to be around so many Great coaches Um you you what you try to do is not Like be like any one of them I think at The end of the day we got to be Ourselves but at the same time you want To learn from every experience that You've had and that's what I've tried to Do just try to take the the best Attributes try to learn from some of the Mistakes and then as we move forward in Our our journey here you know you try to Use those lessons to serve you well in The future going back to Dom for a Second what on a day-to-day basis what Is a senior defensive assistant do He does everything he's um he's uh Somebody could bounce ideas off of he's Someone that gives ideas and input on The game plan he helps us with a lot of Our Tendencies Um and uh you know he does uh some Motivational things with the team as Well so he's he's got his hands in a lot Of things You can't be in your own coach you and Thomas Brown are really coming into your
Own here in Carolina you work with him Every day for multiple seasons in Los Angeles what is it about Thomas's Day-to-day process that merits the Respect of his peers in this industry Well one is leadership he's just a Leader he's a natural leader he walks Into the room he commands respect Um he's in extremely intelligent he's a Very detailed he's very thorough and He's very business-like and he's just he Just has a great way about him and I Think he just gains anytime anybody that Spends any time with them is instant Credibility Like I practice the offense and Defensive units competing with each Other I know you guys haven't Coordinated your own units versus each Other now but you have a sense of what He's going to bring to practice every Day yeah we're both going to try to win Espn.com Um what paces are missing from the Talent that you have coming back that You feel like you really need to make a Three four work Yeah I mean uh you know I don't want to Get too much into the details of what We're going to do but um you know we're Going to take a great look at the roster And we're still through going through That process right now and as we work Through it we'll figure it out you've
Worked with Jalen Ramsey who who has a Father who is a coach you you've worked With Patrick sutan who obviously comes From a football family now you have JC Horn I was just curious as a teacher how Much does it help you when a guy kind of Has that background of through the Family kind of having the coach at the Dinner table sort of atmosphere with a Cornerback yeah I mean it helps a lot Absolutely it helps um and uh you know I Just met JC yesterday for the first time And you can see the intelligence just Oozing out of them and uh yeah it Definitely helps and you know the best Players are the smartest players and When you have that background uh it Definitely helps Elaborate on what you envision the Identity of this defense Physical great effort and attacking the Ball What were your um what are your Recollections of I guess it was the November game here with the Broncos Well you know that was uh unfortunately Our first hand look at the talent this Team possesses and the capabilities this Team possesses but you know I told Scott And Dan Morgan when I was interviewing For the job that I mean these guys the Panthers blocked us as well as anybody That we played all year and uh so from An offensive standpoint you know you saw
The offensive line come to life DJ Moore You know there's some really good pieces On his def on his offense and you know Didn't really get to watch the defense Really but like just crossover film and Things of that nature you see the talent But like definitely it was a good Experience and if you weren't coaching What would you have gone into you think Oh that's a great question you always Thought I was going to be in a business World but uh I see a lot of my good Friends from college that are Firefighters and I kind of like that Lifestyle you know work a little bit and Then a lot of time off Yeah The majority of your staff you've worked With in Denver La uh Todd wash the guy You you have like a long history with Why was he so important to bring to the Staff and how were you able to add him Since he was taking the same job from Detroit yeah Um well you know Todd had some personal Things that uh Drew him down here Getting close to his family and things Of that nature but Um yeah he's just You know we haven't worked together in a Long time but we've stayed up and you Know he's got a he's been a coordinator He's been a defensive line coach for a Long time uh you see his work from afar
Um in terms of the product on the field And just a great teacher extremely Detailed he's passionate he connects With the players uh so yeah it's Definitely a great get for us There's a lot of talk about the scheme And the base scheme but beyond that what Are the kind of core principles you look For personnel wise in in a defense Well you know we just talked about it Just the philosophy of our defense but We look for guys that are physical right We look for guys that play with great Effort guys that are smart Um I think those are the type of Intangibles that are winning intangible So Um at the end of the day we want to be a Physical aggressive team that plays with Great effort Um but we don't want to ever beat Ourselves Defense has been coming along each year The takeaway numbers have not probably Been where they've wanted them to be how Do you kind of enhance that as a coach And this scheme like what's your Approach to yeah I think the number one Way you got to get after the quarterback Right so we just got to get pressure on A quarterback uh we got to find ways to Affect a quarterback and I think that's Where those takeaways start happening Players in obviously with salary cap
Situations you got to take a look at That have you kind of voiced opinion on Whether you want Shaq Thompson to be a Part of what you're building going Forward or kind of where do you stand on That yeah you know again those are all Questions that are above my pay grade But if you talk about the player Um that's definitely a player that I Really admire and I think he's a heck of A player and definitely would love to Coach him With a three-fourths game for you very Well yeah he's a he's an inside backer He's a three down uh player and he's a Guy that could play The Run game he's Good in his own coverage he could see The quarterback he can match running Backs yeah he fits just White Still early in this but chin is kind of That intriguing Guy where you know the First year he was playing linebacker Made a lot of plays and they moved him To safety can you give us an idea where You kind of see him fitting in this 3-4 Yeah I mean he's he's a guy that's very Very talented uh big fast physical can Tackle gets the ball out and you know I Think that we that's where we got to do A good job of just finding those pieces Uh those places for him to play and uh You know and it might be a matter of him Being moved around and doing different Things but uh definitely exciting to
Work with a player like him Oh just got valid from the Charlotte Observer just on a like a philosophical Level why do you think a 3-4 as a base Defense is better suited in the NFL Well I just think from the standpoint of Protections you know you just don't know Where the if you're going to have a four Down structure or for a rush a four-man Rush structure you don't know where that Extra rusher is coming from so it's that Extra level that the offense has to go Through to figure out what you're doing And uh you know I think a lot get Probably too much gets made about two Three four versus four three because the Way the NFL is trending you really only Play so few Downs of uh base defense so Most of the time you're playing sub Defense which a lot of people are about The same so with that said how important Is the nickel position now in this Modern day NFL it's critical it's Critical because that's a guy that is uh It's got to be a coverage guy obviously Matching receivers he's got to be able To play in The Run game uh the way that People are jet motion and stuff like That it becomes a linebacker pretty Quickly and uh so very important Position Panthers.com you've mentioned a lot About kind of you know matching the Scheme to the players versus the players
To the scheme can you kind of take me Through your Balancing Act there you Know are you kind of focused on making The players fit making a little schemes Like the players just kind of take me Through that yeah so like when you first Come in and you take the job it's you Know it's my my job it's the defensive Coaches jobs working along with the Personnel people what we want to do is We want to make sure that we really Understand what all these players do Well Um and they're at this level they're on This team because they do they have Certain skill sets that are very good And we want to figure that out and as we Put our defense together you know Obviously there's going to be a Framework from where we start off at in Terms of what we've done in the past in Denver but at the end of the day it's Like we're not going to ever ask guys to Do things that can't do well so It's like you had a good deal of say Informing your staff how beneficial was That Well uh you know that's what I really Appreciate about Coach Frank it's um It's not so much I had to say but we Really were thorough and detailed and Collaborated on putting getting this Getting together and it was never a Matter of hate we're just gonna we got
One guy pegged for the position we're Gonna hire him it was hey let's talk About it what do these guys bring to the Table what are some other options let's Be really thorough and detailed about Our approach and uh I think it turned Out very very well Views on the staff here in general that Frank's put together outstanding Outstanding High character men Very good teachers guys with energy and Passion for the game so far you know It's my interactions with all these guys Have been outstanding and looking Forward to working with them what was Your impression of David Tepper during The whole interview process as the head Coach and the coordinator position oh He's fun he's a lot of fun yeah he's Really into it which is what I Appreciate he really loves football he Loves the interaction of it he loves Being involved and from a good way and He's been he's been great so I really Appreciate him Relationship with D'Angelo Hall and what Is it going to be like to bring him in Here I did not have a relationship with Them but a lot of guys that I trust very Uh trust very much had prior Relationships with them and uh yeah I Think it's going to be invaluable Because um you know when you play at a High level like he did when you are a
Smarter football player that's actually Done it comes in with instant Credibility and just my little Interactions with him so far uh he's Just natural in teaching and uh Understanding the game and uh he's Definitely going to bring a lot to us We all good okay all right thanks thank You thank you