When Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero got the green light from Sean Payton to interview for other jobs, the Minnesota Vikings appeared to be at the top of the list of teams to land his services. ESPN reported he was the Vikings’ top candidate and a Denver TV reporter said “all signs” pointed toward Minnesota. Well, apparently even after the season is over unexpected things keep happening to the Vikings in the last minute because NFL Network reported Sunday that Evero has agreed to become the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator.
Evero seemed like the perfect fit for the Vikings. The 42-year-old DC worked for the Los Angeles Rams as their safeties coach and then secondary coach between 2017 and 2021 and then joined the Broncos last offseason. While Denver’s overall season was a disaster, the lone bright spot was Evero’s group on defense. The Broncos had the third best mark in yards per play allowed and ranked seventh best in Expected Points Added on defense. Opposing QBs averaged 6.3 yards per pass attempt vs. Evero’s defense, lowest in the NFL.
The Kevin O’Connell connection combined with roots in the defensive system that the Vikings prefer and the potential for Evero to turn around the defense and become a rising star head coaching candidate all seemed to align. Until the Panthers showed up and hired him before the Vikings even got an interview.
This has been the way of the DC candidate since the Vikings fired Ed Donatell. New Orleans’ Ryan Nielsen was on the Vikings’ list. He chose the Falcons. Former Bear and Seahawk Sean Desai pulled his name from the running. Now former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores remains but his schedule reportedly has a HC interview with the Cardinals and another DC interview with Denver.
If the Vikings don’t land Flores, the only other person they’ve targeted is in-house candidate Mike Pettine.
Short of Evero or Nielsen sending out a press release about why they chose other teams than the Vikings, we can never be 100% sure why they chose elsewhere. Maybe they aren’t big into Jucy Lucys. But it isn’t difficult to put together an educated guess.
The Panthers have some promising pieces. Defensive tackle Derrick Brown, cornerback Jaycee Horn and safety Jeremy Chinn are recently drafted foundational players that Carolina can build around. They also have the ninth overall pick, two seconds and two fourth-rounders to use in the NFL draft.
The Panthers’ middling defense might have a chance to be good next year with the right additions and development. The Vikings’ defense, well, that’s much more muddy.
The futures of veterans Harrison Smith, Eric Kendricks, Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter are all unclear. Dalvin Tomlinson is a free agent. The 2022 draft totaled less than 500 snaps on defense despite five of the first six picks going to the defensive side of the ball. The top three defensive picks all suffered serious injuries and the previous five drafts netted a total of one 2022 defensive starter. Not to mention the Vikings are way over the salary cap heading into the offseason and have only two top-100 draft picks.
The Vikings’ defense isn’t a weekend fix-it project. It’s a house with old appliances, a rotting roof, leaking basement and an owner (Kevin O’Connell, in this metaphor) who won’t be lifting a hammer. Though he could fire you after one year if the job isn’t done right.
That doesn’t mean all hope is lost for the next Property Brother who takes the gig but it isn’t going to be an HGTV job where they wrap up a massive amount of work in 43 minutes of air time.
That may be where Brian Flores comes in. In 2019 he took over a Dolphins defense that ranked 27th in points allowed. One year later, Miami led the NFL in points against. But in 2020, Flores’s defense took an enormous jump, becoming the sixth best defense in points and No. 1 in turnovers forced.
At the center of that change was personnel and development. They added cornerback Byron Jones, pass rushers Emmanuel Ogbah, Kyle Van Noy and Shaq Lawson and drafted dominant defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. The 2020 defense also got seven sacks from 2018 third-rounder Jerome Baker and 5.5 from 2019 fifth-rounder Andrew Van Ginkel.
In Evero’s case, he might have been looking for a one-year project that would elevate him to the top of everyone’s must-hire list. Carolina offers that possibility. It’s hard to envision the national media saying, “Can you believe how he turned around that Vikings defense?” about anyone next year considering the roster challenges and opposing QB schedule, which features Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow and Jalen Hurts.
The Vikings’ brass mentioned a “championship” mindset in their post-season press conference. Sometimes that has to come along with patience. There is nothing wrong with hiring a less experienced DC, like former NFL safety and Wisconsin coordinator Jim Leonhard, in this situation. That is unless you are panicked to cobble together a slightly improved defense that might yield the same results because the schedule is more difficult.
The long-term approach might result in one DC staying in the same place for a while. It might mean finding players who can play in the ashes of old Rick Spielman drafts. Sometimes opportunity is all a player needs, just ask Duke Shelley and Khyiris Tonga or players like Tom Johnson or Anthony Harris of years past. But you won’t find that by making more Jordan Hicks-esque signings with hopes of allowing 25 fewer points in 2023.
So the Vikings’ DC search could be viewed thus far as another sign of the times for a franchise that is being forced into transition by the inertia of the NFL. They may have to adjust accordingly.
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