A familiar face from the defensive side of the football is back in Charlotte. The Carolina Panthers are welcoming former safety Mike Adams to their coaching staff as part of the Bill Walsh Fellowship program. 

KPRC 2 Houston's Aaron Wilson first reported the news about Adams joining the staff ahead of the 2026 season. The news was confirmed by Mike Kaye of The Charlotte Observer, noting the detail of being a part of the Bill Walsh program. 

Adams spent two seasons of his 17 NFL seasons with the Panthers in 2017 and 2018, starting in all 33 appearances he had. That included the wild card round against the New Orleans Saints in 2017. 

Over those two years, he had 148 combined tackles, six interceptions, two forced fumbles, and two fumbles recovered. 

The 45-year-old Adams joins the staff with some NFL experience already. He's coached four years in the league, serving as assistant defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears back in 2021. He was also the assistant special teams coach and assistant secondary coach for the New York Giants from 2023025.

Joining the program, it will open up more opportunities for Adams not only now but in the future as well.

That includes returning to a place he's familiar with and trying to catch on in terms of his coaching career. 

The goal of the program is to be a vocational tool to broaden the pool of diverse coaching talent. Those coaches will be considered for full-time positions among all 32 NFL clubs each year. 

While there is no mandate for the program, it does recommend the following for teams: 

Having a coach like Adams on staff, who took the undrafted route to a successful NFL career, can be beneficial for coaches as well as players on the roster.