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Nick Scott didn’t read the news from Twitter. He didn’t see it in a text thread among teammates. He didn’t hear it, even, from his head coach.

The news came from his general manager.

“Dan Morgan gave me a call,” Scott said in the Carolina Panthers’ locker room Tuesday. “That’s the first person I heard it from. Which I really appreciated. And then the message was: ‘That’s the decision they had to make. I respect it and know that they got a job to do.’

“I wish Cooley and E the best of luck. And I thank them for the role that they’ve had in my career to this point. But now, I’m looking forward to this next game.”

Once the news hit Scott, and presumably a few other select leaders across the defense, it spread around the locker room like pyroclastic flow. That news in question: The Panthers had let go of defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, the team’s defensive play-caller who’d been with the franchise since 2023.

Evero’s exit was the lightning rod of attention and set off a bunch of other defensive coaching shakeups that unfolded over the course of the next few days. In addition to firing Evero, the Panthers also moved on from defensive pass game coordinator Jonathan Cooley and appointed defensive line coach Todd Wash as the team’s interim DC on Friday. They then hired DeAngelo Hall as a cornerbacks coach on Monday. The team even moved on from assistant linebackers coach Mayur Chaudhari on Tuesday, according to a team spokesperson.

But the big news was that Evero was gone. And this defense, for the time being, is facing the task of striking a difficult balance: They can’t completely overhaul the system — it’s too late into the season for that — but they’ll still need to learn on the fly, adapt to certain tweaks instituted by Wash and company, and produce.

“It’s going to have to be a surprise for y’all, I guess,” Scott said, when asked about the differences between Wash’s defense and Evero’s defense. “I mean, we’re just learning as much as we can, and you know, we’re worried about playing fast and physical and owning the changes that there are.

“It’s the same heartbeat of the defense and high-intensity effort, all those good things that you expect from the defense.”

Carolina Panthers concerned with getting the ‘best 11 on the field’

That was mostly the tone across the locker room Tuesday; players weren’t the most forthcoming when describing any sort of philosophical changes on defense, letting generalities speak for themselves.

And many of those generalities didn’t need to be said out loud. Results are loud enough. The Panthers give up 27.6 points per game (28th in NFL), 140.7 rushing yards per game (30th) and allow a 45.8% third-down percentage (27th), according to Team Rankings.

Even head coach Dave Canales skirted scheme talk, saying, “I won’t get into scheme and all that. But we’re built to be a 3-4 team.” Canales was later pressed about how this looks: appointing a defensive line coordinator with previous experience calling a 4-3 base operation; having an outside linebackers coach (AC Carter) taking over as “run game specialist.”

The coach’s response: “We’re built to play a certain way. That’s the talent that we have. Our commitment is to get the best 11 on the field, and I don’t want to really get into the details of it because we have a game this week.

“We’ll keep that to ourselves. And it’s just the normal deal. In base defense, you know, there’s going to be a flavor. But we’re going to put the best 11 on the field.”

Still, do some digging, and a few hints crop up and offer a glimpse as to what this defense will look like. When asked how this defense might evolve under a new play-caller, veteran outside linebacker Pat Jones told The Charlotte Observer that “once we really settle into this system, I think we’re just going to keep going.”

“We’re going to play more aggressive, for sure,” Jones said. “We’re going to go, and we’re going to attack. ... First and foremost, I think it starts off with the play-style. Once we do the play-style, coming downhill, hitting, being violent, destroying blocks, playing down the line of scrimmage — it’s all stuff we’re going to focus on. And we’re just going to keep going.”

What exactly does Jones mean by “aggressive,” insofar as scheme is concerned? It’s tough to say. Some numbers indicate that the team’s play-calling was mighty aggressive. Through six weeks, according to sports analytics website Sumer Sports, the Panthers had a 38.4% blitz rate, good for seventh in the league. Then again, the scheme or the personnel could’ve failed them. Against the Packers in Week 8, the Panthers didn’t notch a sack despite having a 44% blitz rate — the fourth-highest blitz rate without generating a sack in a game this season.

His outside linebacker teammate Princely Umanmielen, similar to Jones, offered a sliver into what might be new about this defense under Wash.

“I guess you could say the philosophy of the defense is the biggest change,” Umanmielen said. He added, “I think we’re going to try to impose our will on other teams.”

Said Umanmielen of the mental challenge of adjusting to a new defense midseason: “It’s not very hard. It’s just new. So with time to myself, and when everyone has time to themselves are able to study at home. I think it’ll come to us pretty quickly.”

High praise for Todd Wash

For as coy as players were about specific changes in the defense, they weren’t afraid to sing the praises of their new play-caller.

Start with defensive lineman Derrick Brown, the Pro Bowl defensive lineman who saw his emergence as a player arrive just as Wash did.

Brown, like everyone, was mum about defensive changes; the most he offered was that “it’s one of those things where we just got a few different tweaks here and there, but for the most part, we’re going to do what we did.”

Get Brown talking about Wash, though? And it’s a different story. In a Charlotte Observer article from years ago, the 28-year-old star credited much of his 100-plus-tackle, defensive-masterpiece of a 2023 season to Wash, then his position coach.

“Coach means a lot to me,” Brown said. “Definitely the first coach in my career to kind of stabilize my position group. We want to go out there and play good for him. ... I’ll just say it like this: He’s the same guy every day, right? We walk in that room, and the challenge is on the table. That’s from start to finish, you know. I think he doesn’t switch up, and he doesn’t ride the emotional wave and does a great job communicating and hearing us out.”

Star linebacker Devin Lloyd had heard of Wash a bit down when he was in Jacksonville. Lloyd and Wash never intersected — Wash served as the defensive coordinator there from 2016 to 2020, leaving two years prior to Lloyd’s drafting — but Lloyd heard flattering stories from his friends and teammates.

“Everybody I know in Jacksonville, and obviously here, loves him as a person and as a coach,” Lloyd said. “And the same thing here. Just a football guy, which I love, detailed. ... He’s just holding guys accountable, mainly with their effort, their intensity, play style. Once we go to meetings today, he’ll correct what needs to be corrected. I’m sure that’s kind of where we’ll really feel (his presence as DC) for the first time.”

Canales said that he won’t put any input during the game for play-calls. This is Wash’s defense, the head coach affirmed. Players could tell in a meeting earlier this week in which Wash stood in front of the team and passionately — if, even, a bit emotionally — and tried to tell the group that they are going to get his best effort.

“Pretty much, he was just like, ‘This means a lot to me,’” Jones said. “And you could tell that it really does. And you could tell in his voice, his passion and everything that it really does mean a lot to him. ... You know it’s real. So it makes you feel like you have a responsibility to be all-in with him.”

Many in the room had been a part of defensive changes midseason, particularly the younger players, those who might be inoculated to such change after going through the topsy-turvy mess that is college football in today’s world. But some hadn’t.

Count Scott as one who hadn’t. The veteran safety had a long history playing alongside Evero and Cooley even prior to the Panthers, with the Los Angeles Rams — and is now tasked with getting his team ready without them.

“It’s the next man up mentality, whether that’s upstairs, coaching staff or us in the locker room,” Scott said. “Change is imminent in this business. And you got to be able to adapt, or you’ll get left behind.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2026 at 7:37 PM with the headline "‘Impose our will.’ Carolina Panthers offer glimpse of what’s next after Evero exit."