The Carolina Panthers are headed in a new direction. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales will now be leading the team for the 2024 offseason. After a disastrous rookie season for Bryce Young, the team is looking to give their rookie quarterback a new system to hopefully succeed in the next level.
Canales is one of the younger head coaches in the league at 42 years old. Because of that, some players seem to have confused him as someone else. Take new Carolina Panthers wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Johnson admitted that he didn't realize Canales was his head coach, per Ari Meirov.
“To be honest, at first I didn't know he was the head coach. When I went to dinner with him, he was just talking, like, there's this energy he brings. After the dinner, they told me he was the head coach… I was so surprised. But other than that, I love his energy, I'm excited to play for him.”
Fans will interpret this interaction in any which way. The good news for the Panthers is that it seems like Canales is already connecting with the young group he has. It might be considered a slight by some, but one can see it as Dave being interactive and chatty, less informal like the old-school style of coaching.
Panthers' disastrous first year with Young
The Panthers are in Year 2 of their rebuild with Bryce Young. They took the Alabama quarterback with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft. There were questions about Young, particularly about his size. Regardless, Carolina believed that the pros far outweighed the cons.
Young's first season in the big leagues wasn't awful… but it also wasn't as spectacular as fans wanted. He had a near 60% completion yard, totalling just 2,877 yards while throwing 11 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. It's not a bad start for a rookie, but it's also not what you want to see out of your first overall pick (who you gave up assets to acquire, too!)
It wasn't all just on Young, though. The Panthers admittedly didn't give their star rookie enough manpower. His offensive line was one of the worst in the league. His best receiver was Adam Thielen, who, at this stage of his career, was best suited to be a WR2 or 3, not a number 1 guy. Perhaps as a result of his bad offensive line, Carolina was not able to establish a run game as well.
A new beginning
Now, the Panthers have learned from their mistakes and are now fixing the problems of the team. They traded for Diontae Johnson, a player who has shown the ability to be a playmaker. He should be the immediate WR1 for an offense that badly needed THE playmaker.
As for his offensive line, the Panthers addressed that by signing guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. The price tag might be a bit too high for the fans' liking. Considering the amount of cap space they have and how bad their pass protection was last season, though, this is a welcome addition.
The sad state of the NFC South means that the Panthers have some shot at winning the division. We'll see how good this new-look offense under Canales performs.
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