Steve Wilks and Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera worked together for three seasons with both the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers before joining forces in Carolina. Beginning as defensive backs coach in 2012, Wilks was promoted to assistant head coach in 2015 and defensive coordinator prior to last year.
The exit of now Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott opened the door for Wilks but promoting from within eased the burden of transitioning into a new defensive scheme. Fortunately, for Wilks and his players both were familiar with a lot of the terminology used and other than a tendency to bring more pressure and expanded big nickel sub-package, much of the Carolina defense looked the same.