The Indianapolis Colts lose another head coaching candidate as Ejiro Evero joins Frank Reich’s staff with the Carolina Panthers.
The Indianapolis Colts are entering their fourth week of a head coaching search and slowly but surely, the number of available candidates is decreasing. The Colts started their search by interviewing 14 different candidates. That number was then narrowed to eight candidates for a second round of interviews. With a third round of interviews on the horizon, Indy’s pool of candidates is getting smaller.
However, the Colts lost one of their candidates because he took another job. Ejiro Evero recently accepted the role of defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers. He now joins Indy’s former coach, Frank Reich, who is now the head coach in Carolina. With Evero now on the Panthers’ staff, the Colts will have to decide from the several other candidates still in the race.
The #Panthers are hiring Ejiro Evero as their defensive coordinator, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 5, 2023
A huge hire for Frank Reich and Carolina, which moved swiftly to lock up one of the NFL’s most talented young coaches after Denver let Evero out of his contract. pic.twitter.com/Y2QvSy2QvV
Colts miss out on Ejiro Evero after he joins Panthers
Evero, just 42 years old, is coming off a season where he was the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos. Under Evero’s coordination, the Broncos’ young defense was one of the best in the league. That made Evero a hot candidate during this hiring cycle. He interviewed for multiple openings and had two interviews for the Colts. For that reason, many assumed that Evero was a serious candidate for Indy. However, he has decided to go in a different direction.
Now, Indianapolis will be deciding from the seven other candidates it had two interviews with. Those candidates include Jeff Saturday, Los Angeles Rams DC Raheem Morris, New York Giants DC Wink Martindale, Philadelphia Eagles OC Shane Steichen, Green Bay Packers STC Rich Bisaccia, Cincinnati Bengals OC Brian Callahan, and Detroit Lions DC Aaron Glenn. It’s unclear when exactly Indy plans to make a decision but it may not come until after the Super Bowl.
This is certainly an important decision for the Colts, so taking their time is understandable. However, Indy has a lot of other things it needs to address this offseason and those processes can’t really get started until the team has a head coach. So a decision needs to be made sooner rather than later.
Colts free agents that could follow Frank Reich to the Panthers
With Frank Reich now the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, there’s a good chance that he takes a few players with him in free agency.