Dave Canales‘ one-year run in Tampa Bay has earned him another offseason move, this time to lead a coaching staff. The Panthers are nearing a deal to hire the Buccaneers OC as their new head coach, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.
The deal is now official. The Panthers announced they’ve agreed to terms with their division rival’s offensive coordinator. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Canales will be on a six-year deal, dedicating a lot of money to the contract of their newest head coach. It’s a long-term commitment that has the potential to pay off for both parties if Canales thrives in his first head coaching role.
A report from earlier this week noted that Canales drew rave reviews from the Panthers’ front office during his first interview. A follow-up meeting was in place, and it has obviously gone well. Carolina was long connected to pursuing a coach with an offensive background, and the team has indeed followed through in that regard. 
Still, the move comes as a surprise given Canales’ lack of experience relative to a number of other candidates. The 42-year-old’s time with the Buccaneers in 2023 marked his first time as a coordinator at the NFL level. He came to Tampa Bay after a lengthy tenure in Seattle, during which he overlapped with Dan Morgan. The latter was promoted to general manager earlier this week.
Canales wore a number of hats with the Seahawks, working with the team from 2010-22. He worked with the team’s quarterbacks for much of his time in the Emerald City, and his ability to turn Geno Smith into a Comeback Player of the Year with a career-best performance in 2022 upped his stock considerably. Taking on the Tampa OC posting, he set himself up for another reclamation project of sorts with Baker Mayfield.
The former No. 1 pick outperformed expectations under Canales’ guidance, throwing a career-high 28 touchdown passes and posting a 94.6 passer rating, the second-highest mark of his career. Mayfield is therefore a candidate for a long-term Bucs agreement. If that materializes, however, Canales will not be in place to continue working with him, instead turning his attention to a division rival.
Carolina was interested in Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson during last year’s hiring cycle, and that remained the case in 2024. Johnson – who has received considerable interest from a number of other teams – was reported to be the Panthers’ top target. Johnson’s future remains uncertain as Detroit prepares for the NFC title game this weekend, but another potential landing spot for him has now been eliminated.
Of course, a central reason in the Panthers’ continued pursuit of Johnson was his work with Lions QB Jared Goff. Developing 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young will be the top priority for Canales after he endured a disappointing rookie campaign. Young’s struggles were not entirely of his own doing, but signficant strides will be required to justify Carolina’s acquisition of the No. 1 slot last spring. Major changes along the O-line and in the skill-position room should also be expected, and those can now happen with a new GM and head coach in place.
In the wake of Canales drawing serious interest from the Panthers, it was learned that Buccaneers QBs coach Thad Lewis was a prime candidate to take over as Tampa Bay’s OC. With the former having agreed to Carolina’s HC gig, it will be interesting to see if the latter does get tapped for the promotion. If not, the reigning NFC South winners will need to join the competition for outside additions at the coordinator spots.
Frank Reich entered last season with signficant expectations given his track record and the staff he assembled. Only 11 games into the campaign, however, Reich was let go, a sign of the reputation for impatience that owner David Tepper has generated in recent years in particular. Tepper’s personal involvement in a number of key personnel and roster decisions has also led many to assume top HC candidates would steer clear of Carolina. The team has nonetheless managed to find its next coach earlier than a number of others.
Once the Canales deal becomes official, the 2024 cycle will have seen five hires made. The Falcons, Seahawks and Commanders still have vacancies on their staffs, and their searches will now continue with one fewer candidate on the market.
I’ll give him 11 minutes
I would hope Tepper could go longer than that without throwing a drink at someone.
Mission difficulty: impossible
It’s easy to be snarky about more sought after candidates not touching the Carolina job with a ten foot pole–and I would imagine that’s true to some large degree–but at the same time, given the performances he helped get out of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield, he seems like a solid candidate when one of your biggest priorities is getting your young quarterback pointed in the right direction. Whether he or anyone else can help turn the organization into a functional one is another question, but that might be above his or any other coach’s pay grade.
Many coaching staffs have shown that guiding and mentoring a young qb is a completely different skill set than pumping a little confidence to get the most out of a washed up veteran.
I guess. I think some of that is more a question of patience and taste than skill. But at least in Baker’s case, we’ve also seen how much QB success is about building a scheme around what the player is suited to do rather than forcing a square peg into a round hole. Canales seems to have some savvy there, if nothing else. From roster building to scheme, this is something Carolina has lacked on the offensive side of the ball for a long time.
In Seattle they gave geno a pretty solid supporting cast. Metcalf Lockett Walker and invested in the oline
In Tampa they gave Baker a pretty solid supporting cast. Evans Godwin White and invested in the oline.
Situation in Carolina is a little bit different. They haven’t invested as much into the oline. Supporting cast isn’t as good. They also are starting at a lower point with no 1st round draft pick. And how attractive is Carolina to free agents?
I think Canales might be in over his head on this one. Unfortunately Cj stroud came out swinging this year. Offensive Roy mvp candidate won division won a playoff game. Anthony Richardson looked more ready than Bryce Young too. Even Will Levis. A regular owner would be like look this is a process. David Temper over here probably thinks they’ll win the division next year. Just a recipe for disaster.
Those are all very real concerns. They’ll certainly do more to address wide receiver, and there should be strong pass catching talent available at the top of the second round. They also just need that offensive line to play better, which it has the talent to do.
He may have helped some underachievers get better in other places, but unfortunately a head coach doesn’t have that role. It’s a completely different job.
An offensive head coach still implements a vision for how to scheme up to a quarterback’s strengths, at a bare minimum.
Solid potential, sure. I agree with you there. The problem is that he hasn’t worked with a quarterback for more than a year so that we can see sustained results, and hasn’t managed the offense for very long, either.
Aside from playcalling acumen, a good coordinator is also a good manager. I am intrigued by Canales, but this situation-a promising up and comer with little experience and short histories at prior stops-just seems familiar to me for the Panthers. I like Canales’ work, but there’s just not very much of it yet. As a fan from the couch, I’d, for my part, like to see more and something long term before being excited by this hire.
To be clear, I don’t blame anyone for being skeptical of the Panthers. Dysfunctional organizations often stay that way for a while. But I do think people are too down on Young at this point, and a bounce from him could make a huge difference.
I agree with that.
He’s likely to bounce because he is only about 67 inches off the ground already. Can’t even ride adult roller coasters, but they wasted a bunch of resources to move up and et him anyway, made zero sense at the time, even less now.
This is going to be awful.
Head coaches in the NFL are executives. They delegate and organize.
1. As he figures out how to run a team, there’s no way he’ll have the bandwidth to coach up Bryce Young.
2. With such a short resume, filling the coaching staff Is going to be EXTREMELY difficult. How many experienced coordinators want to come work for a 42 year old with one year as a coordinator?
Wade Phillips went to work for a 31 year old Sean McVay. And Carolina can always get experienced coaches as long as Tepper is game to pay top rates for them.
Schiste!!!!!
And Canales is a fool
It took him half the season to get the Buccaneer Offense going and now he has to start all over
SMH
Assuming the DC leaves?
He’s getting a few looks as a HC elsewhere, but idk, it might be too early for him.
I don’t think, even for someone with the pedigree and momentum of Evero, it’s as easy, or as common, for a defensive minded coach to get a head coaching Jon as it is for offensive minded coaches.
Obviously, there are some exceptions like DeMeco Ryans, but literally EVERYONE basically knew he was going to eventually become a HC even when he was a positional coach. Heck, they probably already knew he’d be a HC one day before his playing career even ended..lol
The way players respected Ryans, the way they fought for him, the way they responded to his coaching, his high football IQ, etc. Even when he took over for Robery Saleh as the 49ers DC, their depth continued to take a hit due to the salary cap, yet Ryans had their defense humming right along and in alot of ways had their defense looking even more impressive than Saleh. Ryans ability to make halftime adjustments was the best I’ve ever seen from a defensive coordinator, and I’ve been an avid fan for 30 years. Given, it’s probably only been about 15 years that I’ve really been a able to intelligently study tape and even really knew what I was looking at lol, but Ryans instantly stood out above and beyond his peers and predecessors.
His ability to adjust his gameplans on the fly to whatever was and wasn’t working was an absolute thing of beauty, and it is no doubt why he was able to help the Texans rack up some wins this year and even their offense progress over the course of the season.
Evero is an amazing defensive coordinator in his own right. Speaking solely from a X’s and O’s perspective Evero has a very high football IQ. He knows what it takes to stop an opposong team’s offense these days, and that’s really saying something with how defenses have to play with an significant disadvantage these days.
Maybe now with Ryans success, it’ll better pave the way for more up and coming defensive coaches to get their shots faster, but since Kyle Shannahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, and now Canales’ and Slowik’s instant success as a Texan as well basically every owner wants the hot new offensive name on the circuit.
Happy for Canales, someone was going to get the job. This team has no chance to win until Bryce Young’s rookie contract is up. That little dude is never going to be an NFL winning QB. I laughed when they took Young over Stroud. Now Canales has to make this kid into a winner and it is not going to happen.
All 3 of the top QB prospects in this years draft (Maye, Daniels, Williams) have higher ceilings then Bryce. It was possibly the worst trade up in the history of the NFL.
I mean the trade up was bad, but you clearly didn’t watch the Panthers play at all. The offense was stale and vanilla, they overpaid Miles Sanders based off of one year of success behind an elite Eagles O-line, they don’t have an O-line, and their best receiver is 33 years old whose skillset is more safety blanket than an elite WR. What about that is a recipe for success? I’m not saying Bryce will be good, but his struggles this year are unsurprising considering the supporting cast. Realistically, Bryce looked like a rookie QB, his struggles only look worse in comparison because Stroud jumped onto the scene.
I watched more regular season CAR games this year then any year previously just because I wanted to see if Bryce was going to be good. I know the offense lacked creativity and I agree Miles Sanders was a wasted addition considering how well Chuba Hubbard played when he was given the ball. O-line definitely needs to improve, they can draft a guy at the start of the 2nd round to help with that (OT Jordan Morgan from Arizona or C/G Jackson Powers-Johnson out of Oregon).
Bryce has time to develop, 1st overall means he will a least get the chance to prove himself over the next 2-3 seasons. My biggest issue is his strength in the pocket and his inability to shake off defenders. To me it seems that every time someone gets a hand on him he struggles to get away and make a play off of the pressure. When guys laying on the ground can reach up and yank him to the ground with just one hand I think damn Cam use to just shake that off and go make the play.
For a guy Bryce’s size he needs to be able to scramble more often to find the open receiver and that isn’t his style of play imo. I know a stronger O-line will give him more time to operate but I still have concerns with him long term. Anyhow perhaps Canales can figure it out, I wish them well in 2024.
Well said. Imo he’s got Tua’s skillset with more mobility, so a good offense for him will be a West Coast style that allows for quick reads and accurate throws and also getting him mobile just to move the “pocket” which will cover up some of the o-line’s deficiencies in the short term. O-line and paying a WR or two that can create separation or at least win a route in free agency, even if its winds up an overpay, should be Carolina’s biggest needs. The short term benefit of just getting Bryce some weapons will outweigh the long term downside of overpaying a WR a few extra million per year.
The Canales hire doesn’t jump off the page, and while there are only 32 HC positions, it’s not a super appealing landing spot purely off of the no 1st round pick and Tepper’s reputation. But Canales has done a good job with two journeymen QBs that there should be some confidence in him helping Bryce take the next steps. Similar to Trevor Lawrence, we might not see Bryce look like a stud in the next 1-2 seasons, but showing glimmers of what made him highly rated and just being able to go “there’s a franchise QB in there somewhere” should be the short term goal.
Thank you for saying it JT70. Bryce was mostly running for his life in every game I watched.
The Panthers have so many problems it’s crazy to think a QB whisperer is their answer.
Prediction: The panthers go out and sign Baker Mayfield as Canales guy and canales is an offensive consultant with the Bucs by week 10
haha Baker was with them, no way he going back.
I would take a few $million to be a puppet for a year.
Condolences to Canales on the death of his career.
Probably the best HC the Panthers could recruit under the circumstances as I’m certain all more qualified HC candidates had no interest.
I think Canales gets fired mid-way through year 2 and then the Panthers will release Bryce Young and look to start over with a new HC and QB in 2026.
Very surprised, he has no real experience just 1 year calling plays. He wasn’t lighting it up every game. He did do well with Geno so they much hope he just works with Young and has other coordinators help…which sounds like what they had with Reich.
Canales could have stay another year with Tampa and had looks at better jobs.
This new coach will age 10 years every years he’s there. Keep the blood pressure in check coach. Good luck dealing with that owner and non-QB
Poor Bast$&d he has no idea what he’s truly in for
Good luck young man. You’re now the HC for a franchise that lacks any type of organizational control and an impatient owner who has no qualms about firing you for the smallest of indiscretions. Atleast your young enough to get more opportunities when the inevitable happens! Everyone seems surprised that q coach with so little experience got this job? It’s because EVERY coach with any kind of know-how said hell no to this position!
Canales is a great find for Carolina. He looks to have real potential as a head coach, with plenty of energy, charisma and football smarts.
Terrible landing place for Canales though. Probably should have waited a year and finished the Mayfield Reclamation Project, and then take an offer from a better team.
Maybe Canales has some close friends in Carolina?