Could Packers preview their next DC on Sunday? Maybe, but it's complicated

The Packers will likely change DCs in 2024 and could pursue the Panthers' Ejiro Evero for the job. If so, Green Bay has pros and cons to weigh with his potential candidacy.

After back-to-back defensive disappointments earlier this month placed Green Bay Packers DC Joe Barry squarely in the crosshairs, his boss declined to throw him under the bus. The team will not change defensive coordinators, at least during the 2023 season.

"If I thought that was the best solution today, then we'd make that decision," Packers head coach LaFleur said. "When you're having basic communication problems and you're supposed to be in a certain coverage or certain rotation and we're not getting that communication, that's what's so disappointing to me.

"It starts with myself and then it goes to all of our assistant coaches. Obviously, the coaching wasn't up to the standard. Our performance on the field definitely showed that as well."

But regardless of what LaFleur says publicly, he surely understands that the defense cannot continue under the same leadership. The Packers will have a new defensive coordinator in 2024, and one of the plausible candidates for that job will coach for Green Bay's upcoming opponent: Carolina Panthers DC Ejiro Evero.

Sunday's game won't serve as an introduction, however. Evero worked as a defensive quality-control assistant in Green Bay in 2016 and interviewed for the Packers' defensive-coordinator job when it last opened in 2021. Passing over Evero looks foolish in hindsight as did the team's decision not to make a change this offseason when he became available again. Even so, this offseason could offer a third chance to bring Evero onto the staff.

With that in mind, Evero has a valuable opportunity to impress the Packers this week, though his potential candidacy contains more nuances than appear on the surface.