Carolina Panthers add two more defensive assistant coaches

The Carolina Panthers coaching staff continues to develop as two more hires have been announced. According to a recent report, the Panthers have brought on Bert Watts and Tem Lukabu. Watts will become newly hired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s new safeties coach. Lukabu will be his new outside linebackers coach.

Watts and Evero already have a working relationship. The two worked together last season, coaching the stout Broncos’ defense. Watts also has another tie to the Panthers. He is the uncle of Carolina tight end, Tommy Tremble.

Lukabu is fresh from the college ranks but has experience at the NFL level too. The former defensive assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers recently spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Boston College Golden Eagles. Prior to that, Lukabu worked as the linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and as a quality control coach with the San Francisco 49ers, along with the stop as mentioned above with the Buccaneers.

Panthers set to hire Thomas Brown as their offensive coordinator

The Carolina Panthers plan to hire Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach Thomas Brown as their offensive coordinator, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport. Brown is a well thought of young coach that has interviewed a number of times for head coaching positions across the league for the past two offseasons.

He’s got an extensive amount of coaching experience, both on the collegiate level and the NFL level. In the college football coaching ranks, Brown has worked with Georgia (2011 and 2015), Chattanooga (2012), Marshall (2013), Wisconsin (2014), Miami (Florida) (2016-2018), and South Carolina (2019). His first stint as an offensive coordinator came with the Miami Hurricanes, where he served under Mark Richt, his former head coach with the Georgia Bulldogs.

In the NFL coaching ranks, Brown has been with the Los Angeles Rams since 2020. He worked as their running backs coach in 2020, before being promoted to their assistant head coach role in 2021 and 2022. Brown worked with their running backs in 2021, before working with their tight ends during the 2022 season. As a player, Brown played his college football with the Georgia Bulldogs, earning freshman All-SEC honors after racking up 875 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground on 172 carries.