The Carolina Panthers fired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero in Week 8. One of the more surprising changes in Week 9 was rookie second-round pick Lee Hunter losing playing time. Head coach Dave Canales noted that the team needs to find a way to play Hunter more. However, the change to Todd Wash as the defensive coordinator might see him lose snaps in the short term.
“Yeah, we got to play Lee more,” stated Canales on the Monday after the game. “Again, in the transition, we played a lot more fourth-down stuff. So he’s out there. He’s our primary nose in base. We just have to have a better mechanism to be able to get him out there in our four-down stuff so he can affect the game.”
Canales is making it clear that his new coordinator needs to find a way to get the 49th overall pick more involved.
Carolina Panthers Decrease Snaps of Lee Hunter in Week 9 Loss to Denver Broncos
Hunter was always the fourth man in the Panthers rotation due to the specific role of being a nose tackle. Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown would play more next to Derrick Brown in pass-rushing scenarios.
Wharton was not healthy until Week 6, and Brown has been in and out of the lineup. He missed Week 8, so Week 9 was only the third game that both Wharton and Brown have been active together.
Still, Hunter played 54% of the defensive snaps in the Panthers Week 7 to the Bucs. He played 31% of the defensive snaps in Week 8. Now, in Week 9, he was down to 17% of the defensive snaps.
This season, Hunter has played 35% of the team’s total snaps. What was most interesting was seeing Hunter outsnapped by former sixth-round pick Aaron Hall.
Hall has played 33% of the defensive snaps this season, so he has always mixed in. Still, he played three more snaps than Hunter in Week 9. Canales did not put the blame on Hunter nearly as much as the defensive coordinator. This is the first week that Wash has been the coordinator and there are already questionable decisions being made.
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So far, the Panthers’ 2026 draft class has been up and down. Monroe Freeling had to move from left tackle to right tackle. So, while he has struggled, it was expected. Hunter was their second pick. Their third pick, Chris Brazzell, is on the IR.
However, Will Lee and Zaekee Wheatley have been starting in recent weeks. That has been valuable, but the team also drafted Sam Hecht and Jackson Kuwatch, who have made minimal impact.
The development of Freeling and whether he stays on the left or right side, and the development of Hunter and how they can get him on the field more, will be two of the more important storylines to follow for the rest of the season. Carolina is 3-5 after their Week 9 loss.
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