The Carolina Panthers may not should look far to seek out their subsequent head coach.
Defensive coach-turned-interim head coach Steve Wilks is outperforming expectations in Carolina, navigating the Panthers to a 2-3 file within the 5 video games he is watched over the sidelines.
The important thing half to that file is that two of those wins got here in opposition to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. If wideout D.J. Moore does not get flagged for eradicating his helmet on a Hail Mary landing celebration, it’s extremely attainable the workforce sweeps the Falcons and Wilks is sitting at 3-2.
The Panthers profitable underneath Wilks may have implications for the 2023 NFL Draft.
An unintended consequence within the subsequent teaching cycle may very well be Carolina selecting decrease within the draft and never being fairly as enticing a gap as a workforce that has a greater probability of snagging a franchise quarterback.
Nevertheless, Wilks has steadied the Panthers after Carolina fired Matt Rhule in October. The workforce is much from good, however the longtime defensive coordinator is making a case for him to transition from interim to full-time.
Wilks acquired the quick finish of the stick in Arizona in 2018, a one-and-done rent that by no means actually acquired the prospect to show his value on a Cardinals workforce that struggled after drafting quarterback Josh Rosen with a excessive first-round choose.
Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson says that Wilks’ “Win the Day” message is resonating in Carolina’s locker room.
“You have to stay like that, and that is how Steve lives right here,” Thompson mentioned, by way of Panthers.com’s Darin Gantt. “We won’t let what occurs [in the team’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals] have an effect on this week. So win the day. Win conferences, win apply, win extra conferences. That is how I take it, and the way lots of people in right here take it.”
With Wilks making inroads in Carolina’s locker room and discovering sudden success on the sector, his job with the Panthers might grow to be extra everlasting after the season ends.
