Panthers’ Canales ‘fired up’ to work with Young

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Quarterback Bryce Young wasn’t among the players at Thursday’s news conference to introduce new Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales, but the top pick of the 2023 draft was a big reason Canales wanted to join a team that finished with an NFL-worst 2-15 record last season.

Canales, 42, reminded he never had a chance in 13 seasons as an offensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks or in his one season in 2023 as the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to work with a No. 1 overall pick as a rookie.

Although Young is coming off an historically bad season for a quarterback taken with the top pick, Canales saw his long-term potential for success.

“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,” said Canales, who was given a six-year deal a week ago when hired.

“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 also said there are challenges. Young finished his rookie season ranked 29th out of 30 qualified quarterbacks in Total QBR. His 11 touchdown passes tied for the fewest in NFL history for a quarterback with at least 500 pass attempts. He was sacked a team-record 62 times.

That Young is tied with the Arizona Cardinals‘ Kyler Murray as the shortest starting quarterback (5-foot-10) in a league where the average height is 6-2½ also is a factor.

But Canales has had success with shorter quarterbacks. He helped Russell Wilson (5-11) in Seattle and Baker Mayfield (6-1) at Tampa Bay have career years. He also helped Geno Smith (6-3) in Seattle to a career season.

“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.”

He referred to Drew Brees, who put up Hall of Fame numbers at 6-foot, not struggling to throw over offensive linemen.

“Whether you’re 5-11 or 6-1, you can’t really see over any of the alignment,” Canales said. “So, there’s an approach to it.”

Getting rid of the ball in 2.7 seconds or faster is a priority. Young ranked 24th in the NFL last season with a 2.9-second release time.

“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.

“In the pass game it’s getting that ball out in 2.7 seconds or less. That’s a critical deal for me.”

Canales doesn’t believe Young’s confidence was shot after the type of season that has ruined many rookie quarterbacks.

“We are going to become what Bryce is good at in the pass game,” he said. “We are going to grow to the capacity that he can handle.”

Canales will do that as the playcaller with offensive coordinator Brad Idzik focused on the rest of the offense. Idzik is one of several former Buccaneers’ assistants Canales brought with him because he wanted to keep the continuity he had with his former staff.

Canales also was lured to Carolina by a top five defense coached by Ejiro Evero, who is under consideration to remain the defensive coordinator.

Ejiro was a candidate for several head-coaching jobs. He’s still under contract with Carolina.

“Just the respect factor that I have going against him,” Canales said. “I just know it was really difficult on me for years, whether it was at Seattle going against the Rams or this year going against EJ twice.”

Canales wasn’t Carolina’s top choice entering the search process. Multiple sources said that was Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who for the second straight season announced he was returning to the Lions despite being interviewed by five teams.

Canales became the top choice after blowing the team away during the interview process with his energy and vision.

That new general manager Dan Morgan worked with Canales in Seattle also was a factor in the hire. There’s a shared trust and vision. Part of that vision includes finding players who had the same fierce mentality Morgan had as a Carolina linebacker from 2001-07.

“When teams drive up to this stadium we want them to fear that logo, because right now it’s not here,” Morgan said of a franchise that has had six straight losing seasons since Tepper purchased the organization in 2018.

Tepper introduced Canales and Morgan, but when asked after the news conference whether he planned to take questions, he said, “No, I’m in the background now.”

That could have been a response to reports by ESPN and others that cited sources saying Tepper should hire good football people and get out of the way.

Tepper has fired his head coach in-season in each of the past two seasons and three times in five seasons. Canales, known for his positivity, said that wasn’t a factor in his decision to take the job.

“I don’t think that way,” he said. “I’m talking about today. I want to win today.”

For Canales, this has been a quick career rise from a cowboy boots salesman 20 years ago to an NFL head coach after only one season as a coordinator. He wore a pair of 15-year-old cowboy boots to the news conference as a reminder of his journey.

“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 added. “It’s in my DNA. It’s a part of who I am.”