A report from Jordan Schultz last week indicated that the Las Vegas Raiders are looking for an “offensive minded” coach to pair with likely first overall selection Fernando Mendoza. The Raiders have interviewed Klint Kubiak, Davis Webb, and now Ejiro Evero for their head coach opening a 2nd time. Webb recently pulled out of the job and Kubiak meets with the Raiders on Saturday the 31st. An additional report indicated that Ejiro Evero is among the Raiders backup plans should Kubiak turn down the Raiders for the Arizona Cardinals or opt to stay in Seattle another season. With that, Evero could be among the Raiders potential options as they could also pivot to Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase as their next coach.
Experience
Evero, originally from Colchester England attended UC Davis where as an undrafted free agent he spent the 2024 off-season and a brief practice squad stint with the Oakland Raiders. After his time in the NFL, allbeit, one season, Evero returned to UC Davis as a graduate assistant from 2005-2006 before Evero joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2007 as a defensive quality control coach through 2009 before he was hired as the University of Redlands safeties coach in 2010. The 49ers hired Evero in 2011 as a quality control coach before he moved to an assistant coach role from 2012-2015. Evero got his first crack as a position coach in 2017 with the Rams after spending 2016 with the Packers as an assistant safeties coach. Evero stayed in Los Angeles as their safeties coach from 2017 to 2020 before being promoted to the secondary coach in 2021. The Broncos hired Evero as their defensive coordinator in 2022 and he kept the same role with the Panthers in 2023 where he’s served since.
Los Angeles Rams (2017-2021)
Evero joined the Rams and instantly got to work where safety LaMarcus Joyner logged 3 interceptions and 9 PBU in 12 games and fellow safety John Johnson posted an interception and 11 pass breakups as a rookie in 16 games. Additionally, Nickell Robey-Coleman switched between S and nickel cornerback and logged 2 interception, 9 pass breakups, and was ranked among the NFL’s best coverage nickel corners. 2018 remained strong for Evero seeing John Johnson continue his success with 4 interceptions, 11 breakups, and 119 tackles while also ranking among the NFL’s top safeties in forced incompletions, EPA/pass, QBR allowed, and yards allowed. Lamarcus Joyner logged an interception and PBU before departing for the Raiders in free agency. Fellow safety Sam Shiends, who had been out of the NFL since 2015 saw a role with the team logging 6 PBU an interceptions and 2 starts.
Evero continued his development of safeties in 2019 with John Johnson posting 2 interceptions and 4 breakups in just 6 games for injury. Rookie safety Taylor Rapp logged 2 interceptions, 9 breakups and ranked top 5 in EPA/play, QBR allowed, and was top 15 in yards allowed. Additionally, veteran safety Eric Weddle came out of retirement starting 16 games with 108 tackles, 4 PBU, and ranking top 25 in QBR and yards allowed at safety. 2020 saw rookie safety Jordan Fuller post 3 interceptions, 5 PBU, 60 tackles, and be named to the All-Rookie team, just like Johnson and Rapp. Additionally, John Johnson logged an interception and 8 breakups with Rapp posting an interception and 5 breakups in 9 games. All three ranked among the top 35 in the NFL for EPA/target (Fuller and Rapp top 15), yards, and QBR allowed.
Following his success as the teams safeties coach, the Rams promoted him to their full time secondary coach and pass game coordinator for 2021, the Rams ranked 22nd in pass yards allowed and 2nd in passing touchdowns allowed while also ranking 4th for interceptions, 11th in depth of target, 15th in pass breakups, 5th in yards/attempt, 18th in yards/game, and 5th in QBR allowed. Statistically, the Rams allowed a ton of yardage but they did well limiting chunk plays as well with the 4th least explosive pass plays allowed. The Rams saw Jalen Ramsey make the Pro Bowl and be a first team all pro after 4 interceptions and 16 pass breakups. Taylor Rapp posted 4 interceptions and 9 PBU, Nick Scott logged 2 interceptions and 4 PBU, Jordan Fuller an interception and 4 breakups, David long the same as Fuller, and also veterans Darious Williams and Terrell Burgess remain consistent productive players. The Rams did not see a starting CB or Safety rank lower than 45th of all DB’s in EPA/target and no lower than 60th in yards, QBR, or TD allowed. Their CB all ranked top 38 in seperation/target and the Rams secondary was ranked among the best in the NFL.
Denver Broncos (2022)
Following his success, the Broncos hired Evero as their defensive coordinator in 2022 and it was a slam dunk. Evero’s units ranked 7th overall, 8th in yards allowed, 4th in yards/play, 14th in takeaways, 10th in rushing defense, 7th in touchdowns allowed, 12th in passing defense, 4th in defensive EPA (9th rushing, 2nd passing), 2nd in depth of target and air yards allowed, 4th in blitz rate, 23rd in sacks, and 32nd in missed tackles. Bradley Chubb, Patrick Surtain, and Justin Simmons were all named All-Pro’s and Pro Bowlers and Surtain started his run of now 4 consecutive all pro’s and pro bowl’s posing 2 interceptions and 10 PBU while ranking top 10 at CB in EPA/target, yards allowed, QBR allowed, and TD allowed. Justin Simmons saw success with an NFL leading 6 interceptions, 13 breakups, 3 forced fumbles, and rookie Caden Sterns posted 2 interceptions and 6 breakups in just 5 games. Additionally, the Broncos saw success from veteran linebackers Josey Jewell, Alex Singleton, Jonas Griffith and defensive backs Kareem Jackson, K’Waun Williams while pass rusher Bradley Chubb, Dre’Mont Jones, Baron Browning, and DJ jones succeed in run and pass aspects.
Carolina Panthers (2023-Present)
Following staff turnover in Denver, Evero joined the Panthers in 2023. His 2023 unit ranked 4th in yardage and 29th in points with his rushing defense ranking 23rd and pass defense ranking 3rd. The Panthers also ranked 5th in yards/play, 32nd in turnovers, 3rd in passing yards, 23rd in rushing yards, 19th in EPA, 8th in depth of target, 4th in air yards, 32nd in sacks, and 32nd in missed tackles. The team saw defensive tackle Derrick Brown earn pro bowl honors while seeing some contributions from defensive backs Xavier Woods, Troy Hill, Donte Jackson, and Jaycee Horn. Veterans Frankie Luvu, CJ Henderson, Jeremy Chinn, Deion Jones, Shy Tuttle, and Brian Burns also made contributions with Burns logging 8 sacks and Luvu 5.5 sacks plus 125 tackles. 2024 was a massive down year for Evero with his unit ranking 32nd in yards and points allowed, 32nd in rushing yards allowed, 23rd in passing yards allowed, 32nd in touchdowns allowed, 26th in turnovers, 30th in missed tackles, 29th in sacks, 32nd in first downs allowed, 14th in depth of target, 15th in air yards allowed, and 30th in pressure rate. Jaycee Horn saw development into one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks with an interception and 15 pass breakups while veteran’s Xavier Woods, Michael Jackson, A’Shawn Robinson, Jadeveon Clowney, Jordan Fuller, and DJ Wonnum made contributions though Carolina was very void of defensive talent.
2025 was back on track for Evero ranking 15th in total defense, 16th in points allowed, 20th in rushing defense, but 9th in passing defense while also ranking 18th in yards/play, 10th in turnovers, 14th in first downs allowed, 17th in EPA, 22nd in depth of target, 13th in air yards allowed, 29th in sacks, and 21st in missed tackles. The Panthers did see a ton of defensive development but struggled with sacks and missed tackles which have plagued Evero his last three seasons. Jaycee Horn made the pro bowl after 5 interceptions and 9 breakups and fellow veterans Nick Scott, Michael Jackson (NFL leading 19 PBU), A’Shawn Robinson, Tre’Von Moehrig, DJ Wonnum, Trevin Wallace, Christian Rozeboom, and Derrick Brown were impactful. Carolina lacked talent at places, but saw development in their secondary under new players and continued coaching.
Philosophy:
Evero is a traditional 3-4 defensive coach and he’s been mentored by Vic Fangio, Wade Phillips, Brandon Staley, and Raheem Morris. Evero’s units are heavily influenced from a cover three and tampa philosophy. The Panthers have ranked among the higher ends of the NFL for cover 1 in 2024 but transitioned away from that in 2025 more towards the traditional cover three approach. Evero places high emphasis on his interior defensive line and designates quality pass blitz packages, though he’s not one to rely on the blitz having an average ranking of 14th from 2022-2025 and his highest mark came with the Broncos at nearly 40%. Evero puts an emphasis as well on bracket coverage assignments to help limit the cornerback issues he’s faced but struggles to see a ton of development and impact from the linebacker position who often face the most pressure with his heavy cover three concepts. Evero has ranked near the bottom of the NFL in terms of combo, cover 6, cover 4, and cover 2 man while having a high usage of zone coverage (three seasons north of 65%) in his career. Evero has struggled to generate much pass rush from his EDGE defenders in his career though he deploys a traditional Fangio OTTO position to assist with that as well. It’s a bland system that doesn’t feature much match coverage, disguise, or other implementation of blitz packages and Evero relies on the “my guys are better than your guys” approach which they usually aren’t.
Potential Assistant Coaches
The benefit for Evero is his long network of connections from Los Angeles and Denver and you’d expect names such as AC Carter (OLB Coach), Jonathan Colley (DB Coach), Peter Hansen (LB Coach), and Todd Wash (DL Coach) to potentially come with Evero to Las Vegas as all four have followed him from Los Angeles and/or Denver to Carolina. Other potential coaches that Evero has his connections with that could follow to Las Vegas would include DeAngelo Hall, Vikings DL coach Marcus Dixon (with Evero in Los Angeles and Denver), veteran Dom Capers who’s served as an assistant to Evero since 2022, Rams DB coach and Assistant HC Aubrey Pleasant, and Tennessee ST coach John Bonamego. Offensively, Evero has worked with numerous notable names and it’s crucial he’d bring in a strong offensive staff in order for him to succeed as a head coach. Those names include Vikings OC Wes Phillips, former Bears and Seahawks OC Shane Waldron, Patriots TE coach and former Bears OC Thomas Brown. Additionally, Raiders assistant OL coach Andy Dickerson served with Evero with the Rams as their assistant OL coach from 2012-2020 and could retain or become the Raiders OL coach under Evero.
Players to Watch, Connections:
Panthers veterans EDGE DJ Wonnum, safety Nick Scott, and linebacker Christian Rozeboom would likely be guarantees to follow Evero to Las Vegas. Additionally, Broncos free agent linebackers Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad have experience working with Evero. Rams cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon and cornerback Cobie Durant were in Los Angeles for Evero’s final season as was linebacker Troy Reeder. Numerous other free agents have been connected to Evero and/or his staff through their times with Los Angeles and Denver and could be connections for the Raiders staff to explore.
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