The Carolina Panthers have lost more than just one player following the season-ending injury to outside linebacker Pat Jones II.
On Wednesday, head coach Dave Canales announced that Jones will undergo back surgery and is expected to miss the remainder of the campaign. The fifth-year pass rusher started in all four of his games in 2025 and now leaves behind quite a void in the Carolina defense.
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero was asked about losing Jones on Thursday.
“He was doing a heck of a job,” Evero stated. “The ability to play inside, on pass-rush situations, to play on the edge, just the play style he has, the physicality, the effort, the intelligence, what he means in that room—all those things are, obviously, gonna be missed. But that’s the nature of what we do, and it’s next man up. So the guys that are coming in now have to assume those responsibilities and have to be able to produce.”
Those guys are likely to be 2025 draft picks Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen. Scourton has already notched a pair of starts while Umanmielen has recorded at least 12 defensive snaps in each of the last five outings.
They’ll try to step up in place of Jones, who is currently tied for the second-most pressures on the team (10). Evero, however, knows that probably won’t be an easy fix.
“There’s a lot of roles that Pat filled, and that’s part of what made him such a good player for us, special player for us,” he later said. “And so, yeah, we’re gonna have to figure out a way, in a variety of ways, to fill those roles.”
Along with the rookies, the Panthers’ active roster features two other outside linebackers—starter D.J. Wonnum and Thomas Incoom. Their practice squad holds one, Boogie Basham.
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