News Panthers Team Notes

[Carolina Panthers]

Panthers retaining, promoting assistant quarterbacks coach Mike Bercovici

The Carolina Panthers are retaining assistant quarterbacks coach Mike Bercovici, who had interviewed with a couple teams for a job as quarterbacks coach. They are promoting him to passing game coordinator to get him to stay.

Sources: The #Panthers are promoting assistant QBs coach Mike Bercovici to pass-game coordinator.

Bercovici recently interviewed for the #Commanders QBs coach job but will now stay in Carolina in an elevated role, as the Panthers maintain offensive continuity coming off an NFC… pic.twitter.com/huQ4frMDtN

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 15, 2026

Who?​

Bercovici is not a long-time Dave Canales assistant. He entered the ranks of NFL coaches in 2020 as an assistant to Kliff Kingsbury, then the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. He earned a promotion to offensive assistant in 2022 and then was hired by Frank Reich to be the assistant quarterbacks coach under Josh McCown on the famous 2023 All-Star coaching staff.

When that experiment ended in disaster, Bercovici was the sole offensive assistant retained when Canales was hired. That also makes him the only offensive coach who has been in Bryce Young’s ear for his entire professional career.

Does this matter?​

It’s hard to say.

Bercovici having a more significant role could be the answer to several questions that plagued the 2025 Panthers. He brings experience from other head coaching trees that he can use to challenge some of Canales’more self destructive tendencies. He also provides a level of continuity and consistency for Young.

Both of those things could be huge boons with the Panthers theoretically poised to take a big step after a brief playoff run in 2025. They could also just be signs that business is humming along as usual. It is important that Bercovici is viewed around the league as a potential future offensive coordinator and is the only Panthers assistant so far, besides defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, to receive outside interest this offseason. Retaining talent is a good thing, and it’s a great thing when it doesn’t cost any draft picks or dollars against the salary cap.

Source: https://www.catscratchreader.com/ca...g-assistant-quarterbacks-coach-mike-bercovici

 

[Carolina Panthers]

2025 Playoffs: Divisional Sunday open thread

The Carolina Panthers may be out of the running, but that doesn’t mean the race is over. The Houston Texans are visiting the New England Patriots at 3:00 PM ET this afternoon and the Los Angeles Rams are on the road again against the Chicago Bears at 6:30 PM ET tonight.

The Texans/Pats game is one of those where I wish it could end in a tie. On the one hand, I’ll never root for the New England Patriots. On the other hand, I don’t want to spend another offseason hearing about how the Panthers should have taken C.J. Stroud, regardless of his performance. Bah humbug.

The Rams against the Bears has an easier angle for me to root for this weekend. Go Los Angeles. Simply put, I want the team that the Panthers took down to the wire in the wild-card round to go on and win the Super Bowl. That, more than anything, will help cement my optimism for the 2026 offseason.

This is your open thread to follow along with us for all the action today.

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Source: https://www.catscratchreader.com/ca...4/2025-playoffs-divisional-sunday-open-thread