Carolina Panthers Sign New Head Coach
The new leader has emerged for the Carolina Panthers as they sign former Buccaneers offensive coordinator, Dave Canales as its new head coach. He will replace Frank Reich, who was fired just 11 games into his first season with the Panthers. Canales is bringing 14 seasons of NFL coaching experience to the Panthers organization, but this will be his first opportunity to oversee an entire team. In his first and only year with the Buccaneers, he rejuvenated Baker Mayfield’s career and the rest of the Tampa Bay offense. He was instrumental in helping Baker reach his career highs in completion percentage (64.3%), passing yards (4,044) and touchdowns (28). He helped clinch them to an NFC South division title and a win over the reigning super bowl runner ups, Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round.
Canales is used to winning. During his time in Seattle, he was the team’s wide receivers coach from 2010-2017 and then was promoted to the team’s passing game coordinator and quarterback’s coach. He was a part of the Seahawks playoff run when Russell Wilson was the starting quarterback at the time. He was also a part of Russell Wilson’s career high year in 2020 when set his personal records completing passes at 68.6%, throwing for more than 4,200 yards and scoring 40 touchdowns. Newly promoted general manager of the Panthers, Dan Morgan, was also with the Seahawks organization from 2010-2017, so there is a familiarity between the two and could have been a factor in the hiring process.
Panther fans will hope he can continue his skill at improving QB’s and make Bryce Young look like the next big thing. Bryce Young, statistically, had one of the worst seasons in NFL history for a quarterback taken with the number one overall pick. Judging by initial reactions from Panthers fans on social media platforms, there seems to be a 50/50 split on whether they believe he will succeed or not, a lot due to the fact that the Buccaneers only scored nine points (all field goals) against the Panthers back in week 18 of the regular season. Starting Week One in the 2024 season will mark the Panthers’ third different head coach in as many years. Canales will be the fifth coach for the Panthers organization since 2022.
