Tag: Phil Snow

Bears hire Phil Snow as senior defensive analyst

The Bears have found their senior defensive analyst in Phil Snow.

The Chicago Bears have hired Phil Snow as their senior defensive analyst, head coach Matt Eberflus announced Monday.

Snow boasts 40 years of experience between the pro and college levels. He most recently served as the defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers from 2020-22. Last season, the Panthers defense ranked 22nd in yards allowed and 19th in points allowed.

Before working in Carolina, Snow served as the defensive coordinator at Baylor.

“He’s a great person,” Eberflus said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “He’s very humble, he works well with others, he gives sound advice, and he’s done a good job where he’s been in terms of having good defense, for sure.”

As far as Snow’s role goes, he’ll work at Halas Hall throughout the week focused on advanced scouting as it relates to the team’s future opponents. He will not be at games “functioning as a coach during game day.”

“He’ll be giving summaries of all the situations during the course of the week,” Eberflus said.

Bears hire former Panthers DC Phil Snow as defensive analyst

Former Panthers DC Phil Snow has been hired as a defensive analyst by the Bears.

Matt Rhule’s old righthand man is right back in the NFL.

As announced on Monday, the Chicago Bears have hired former Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Phil Snow to their coaching staff. Snow, 67, will serve as a defensive assistant under head coach Matt Eberflus.

Before being brought over to Charlotte in 2020, the longtime coordinator spent nine years coaching up Rhule’s defenses in the college ranks. He served as Rhule’s coordinator at Temple University from 2013 to 2016 and at Baylor University from 2017 to 2019.

Snow, like his bud, would last about two and a half years on the sidelines for Carolina. The Panthers ranked 18th in total defense during his first campaign in 2020 and and second during his final full season in 2021.

After a disappointing 1-4 start in 2022, Rhule would be relieved of his head-coaching duties by the organization. Snow was also dismissed on that same day, with Steve Wilks and Al Holcomb subsequently assuming interim roles.

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What we learned from Steve Wilks’ 1st presser as Panthers interim HC

Who fired Phil Snow? Will Sam Darnold be the starting QB? And is Luke Kuechly joining the coaching staff? Panthers interim HC Steve Wilks answered those questions on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Steve Wilks took the podium for the first time since being named interim head coach of the Carolina Panthers. And, of course, he had some doozies to answer to.

Here are the top takeaways from Wilks this afternoon.

Panthers fire DC Phil Snow

Two of Matt Rhule’s longtime assistants, Phil Snow and Ed Foley, will also be joining the former Panthers HC on the unemployment line.

The Carolina Panthers may be moving towards removing all traces of Matt Rhule.

Just a few hours after the team announced Rhule’s firing from their head-coaching position, we’ve learned defensive coordinator Phil Snow is on the outs as well. As first reported by Ellis L. Williams of The Charlotte Observer, and later confirmed by NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, Rhule’s righthand man has been dismissed.

After working under Rhule as a defensive coordinator for seven years between Temple University and Baylor University, Snow made the jump to the Panthers alongside his buddy in 2020.

With Snow then at the helm of Carolina’s defense, the franchise saw some encouraging results from its young unit. The group ranked 18th in total defense in 2020, second in 2021 and currently sit 20th through five games in 2022.

As noted by Williams, the team also parted ways with assistant special teams coach Ed Foley—another of Rhule’s college disciples.

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Frankie Luvu becoming a complete LB for Panthers, Phil Snow

Panthers DC Phil Snow believes Frankie Luvu is growing into a complete LB—and there’s plenty more opportunities coming his way.

The Carolina Panthers didn’t give linebacker Frankie Luvu a two-year extension this offseason just so he can be the same guy. And so far in 2022, it’s showed.

Luvu is fresh off the most eye-opening outing of his five-year NFL tenure. Against the New York Giants in Week 2, he recorded a career-high 10 tackles—shattering his previous best of six—with four of those (also a career-high) resulting in a loss.

Heck, he even lit up the analytical box score as well. Pro Football Focus evaluated Luvu as Carolina’s top defender in the loss—grading him out at an 80.0 overall alongside some solid marks in pass rush (85.2), run defense (71.4) and in tackling and coverage (69.9).

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, defensive coordinator Phil Snow spoke about Luvu’s all-around game ahead of today’s practice. He believes that this is just the start for the 25-year-old’s ascension.

“Everybody said Frankie was better on the line of scrimmage, right? Rushing and doing that,” he said. “He wasn’t real good in coverage. But he’s really worked on that in the last year. We sat him down and we wanted a complete linebacker and I think he’s becoming a much better linebacker in all aspects of his game. So, hopefully, he can stay healthy. He’s gonna play a lot more snaps than he’s played in the past. So that’s his big challenge.”

Luvu also notched a career-high in defensive snaps (70) this past Sunday. So, yeah, Snow isn’t kidding.

But, as long as Luvu does stay off the sidelines, the Panthers may once again have themselves another impactful linebacker in the middle of—and all over, quite frankly—their defense.

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Will new Panthers DE Henry Anderson debut in Week 1 vs. Browns?

On Thursday, Panthers DC Phil Snow gave a bit of insight into how he plans on using new DE Henry Anderson.

Henry Anderson may not be pulling off a 2021 Cam Newton type of feat, but his team debut could come a lot sooner than expected. In fact, it could come just six days after he joined the squad.

Defensive coordinator Phil Snow spoke with reporters prior to Thursday’s practice. Right off the top, he was asked by Joseph Person of The Athletic about how he plans on using the newly-signed defensive end.

“Our ends, we’re playing a little differently at times than we did a year ago,” Snow said. “Yetur’s [Gross-Matos] a lot bigger man than Haason Reddick, right? We brought in Henry to help us with that position. So you’ll see him over at tight end, dominate the tight end and the run game and those type things. So that’s how we’ll use him. He’ll help us in the run game.”

Anderson was scooped up by the Panthers this past Monday. The eighth-year defender was placed on the injured reserve and released by the New England Patriots back on Aug. 30.

Person then followed up by asking Snow if Anderson could be involved this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. And he didn’t say no . . .

“He could be,” Snow replied. “It depends on how the game goes and the flow of the game.”

Given Cleveland’s talented running backs, as well as a rainy forecast, this game could lean towards a rush-heavy approach. If that’s the case, Anderson may have his number called to help stop the Browns’ two-headed monster of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

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9 biggest takeaways from Panthers’ 2022 OTAs

What did the 2022 OTAs reveal about the Panthers thus far? Here are nine interesting takeaways.

Thursday, which actually wound up playing host to a fun olympic event, marked the final day of 2022 organized team activities for the Carolina Panthers. And even though these workouts didn’t exactly give us any groundbreaking developments, we can come away with a handful of intriguing nuggets (nine, in fact) moving forward.

So, here they are . . .

Top takeaways from Panthers’ OTAs on Wednesday

On Wednesday, we learned a little bit more about how the Panthers’ offense may look in 2022.

Wednesday marked the second-to-last outing of organized team activities for the Carolina Panthers here in 2022. And to close it out, they had a few of their big guns hit the podium.

Here is the top takeaway from each speaker during yesterday afternoon’s question-and-answer session.

Panthers deal for CB Stephon Gilmore: What does the big trade mean?

Trading for CB Stephon Gilmore means quite a few things for the Panthers. But, most importantly, it means they’re ready to win right now.

Well, it seems as though these Carolina Panthers aren’t messing around, huh?

In a hectic couple of hours on Wednesday, two-time All-Pro Stephon Gilmore wrapped up his successful five-year stay with the New England Patriots in almost one fell swoop. And swooping in was general manager Scott Fitterer.

So what does this shocking (and exciting) move mean for the Panthers?

4 takeaways from the Panthers’ 36-28 loss to Cowboys

The Panthers’ Week 4 loss to the Cowboys showed they still have quite a ways to go with the Sam Darnold project.

A strong test was awaiting the Carolina Panthers in Arlington, Texas on Sunday afternoon.

They had a chance to prove their doubters wrong and show that their 3-0 record was, in fact, every bit as impressive as they believed it to be. Well, it’s 1-0 in favor of the doubters.

Here are four key takeaways from Carolina’s disappointing showing here in Week 4.