Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales comments on major defensive change

The Carolina Panthers made a significant change on the defensive side of the ball in Week 5, and more specifically at the linebacker position.

Through the first four weeks of the 2025 campaign, linebacker Christian Rozeboom donned the green dot as the quarterback of Carolina's defense, so to speak.

But in Week 5, the Panthers removed the dot from Rozeboom and gave it to fellow linebacker Trevin Wallace.

On Monday, head coach Dave Canales explained why the team made that move and it had to do with freeing up Rozeboom more, as well as getting Wallace on the field on dime packages.

"It was a really interesting dynamic where Trevin felt comfortable making the calls and that was something we asked him to do to take on that challenge," Canales said.

"Christian looked like he was playing a little freer out there and running sideline to sideline, making hits,. all the things that we saw bringing him in here," Canales added. "And so flipping the roles, I thought, really helped both guys settle into a comfort zone in a role and going into our dime packages we left Trevin out there a little bit more and got a really fast group out there of guys that were aggressive in the run game and pass game."

By all accounts, the switch appears to have been the right move. Rozeboom finished with nine tackles, tying a season-high for him, and admitted he was able to play more free, as Canales said.

"I think every week's a different week, and for whatever reason I felt like I was kind of able to fly around yesterday and play free, kind of like you said, and I think the defense play free as a whole too, ready to go, and I think that showed," he said.

As for Wallace, who had struggles in his previous sint with the green dot, rookie edge rusher Nic Scourton said he didn't see any difference in terms of how things went in the huddle, which shows it was a smooth transition and Wallace has improved in that area.

While Carolina's defense didn't get off to a good start, the unit did finish strong in the 27-24 win over the Miami Dolphins. As a result, we would expect Carolina to stick with the change moving forward.