A new era for the Carolina Panthers will start next season as they announced they were hiring Dave Canales to be their next head coach on Jan. 25 who previously worked as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Furthermore, in an interview with David Newton of ESPN, he is “fired up” to work with quarterback Bryce Young.
“The more that I got ready for this interview, started watching Bryce, looking at my notes from his [pre-draft] eval … I just got more and more fired up about the opportunity to have this amazing talent,” Canales said. “And he's the guy. He's the right guy that you all talk about when you have that quarterback, that save the franchise type of player. And that got me really excited.”
Canales signed a six-year deal with Carolina which shows the faith they have in him to lead the Panthers to a solid state, but also to help out their franchise quarterback in Young who had a forgettable first season to say the least. This past season, the former No. 1 overall pick from the University of Alabama threw for 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.
Canales has a track record working with “undersized” quarterbacks
However, it was just one season so there is always room for improvement, but for a No. 1 overall pick, the expectations were high. Even with the quarterback taken after him in C.J. Stroud doing wonders with the Houston Texans, the pressure is now on Canales and Young for their partnership to work.
The topic of the shorter quarterbacks in the league have always been controversial, but Canales has had a hand in coaching some signal-callers who are considered “undersized.” When he was a quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks in select years from 2018-2022, he worked with Russell Wilson and Geno Smith. Plus, he just recently worked with Baker Mayfield with the Buccaneers and helped him to his best season yet.
“There are certain challenges,” Canales said. “I'm not going to tell the whole NFC South what those advantages are. That's kind of a proprietary deal that we're going to own here. But I will say there are certain things you can do to help. There are ways to find what that quarterback is comfortable seeing. Whether you're 5-11 or 6-1, you can't really see over any of the alignment, so, there's an approach to it.”
Canales calls the Panthers job a “dream of a lifetime”
There is no doubt that Canales has faith he can unlock the raw talent that is inside Young and bring the Panthers franchise back to the forefront of the NFC South. He said to ESPN that “we are going to become what Bryce is good at in the pass game.”
“There's a way to win games in the NFL,” Canales said. “It's defense, it's run game, it's an explosive pass game that comes off of that run game. We are going to become what Bryce is good at in the pass game. We are going to grow to the capacity that he can handle.”
Canales is another young head coach at the age of 42-years old that has seen a fast rise after only one year as a coordinator the season prior. For himself, being name the head coach of Carolina is a “dream of a lifetime.”
“This is a dream of a lifetime that [wife] Lizzy and I have had that goes back 20 years, of honing this opportunity to get in front of an ownership and sell a vision of who we can become,” Canales said. “It's in my DNA. It's a part of who I am.”
Follow Us
Subscribe