CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Players who were with Dave Canales in Seattle say the Carolina Panthers’ new coach was in constant motion at practice, sprinting from drill to drill, throwing on his cleats and jumping in with the defensive scout team if the Seahawks were down a player.
“High energy” is a phrase that Panthers fans and players can expect to hear associated with Canales a lot in the coming weeks and months.
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But Geno Smith, whose career season in 2022 triggered Canales’ remarkable, two-year ascension from Seattle position coach to Tampa Bay offensive coordinator to Carolina head coach, noticed a different quality when he met Canales during a free-agent visit to Seattle in 2020.
Canales was calm.
“That’s something that’s important,” Smith said Friday during a conference call with Charlotte reporters.
“In a highly stressful business, you don’t want guys who wear it on their facial expressions or you can tell if something’s not right. He’s gonna always have the same calm demeanor. He’s got a great perspective, not just on football but on life. He’s gonna help those young men, not just grow up as athletes but grow up as people.”
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The Panthers hired Canales and gave him a six-year deal in large part because of his history of resurrecting quarterbacks. Smith was the AP Comeback Player of the Year in 2022 and the Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield is a finalist for the 2023 award.
And while Smith believes Canales’ arrival in Charlotte will be good for quarterback Bryce Young, he and two other ex-Seahawks who spoke to The Athletic are excited to see the impact Canales has on the entire locker room. The “Dave effect” is how tight end Ed Dickson put it.
“He would help me with the plays I needed to do. And this is a guy who wasn’t even my position (coach),” said Dickson, a former Panther who went to Seattle in 2018.
“He was quarterbacks coach. But he would help me with the plays I needed to run, give me examples. He’s a great mentor, great teacher, and I think all those young guys are gonna reap the benefits from it. You’re gonna see that immediate Dave effect.”
Dickson won a Super Bowl in Baltimore with John Harbaugh, played for a Super Bowl in Carolina under Ron Rivera and finished his career in Seattle with a Super Bowl-winning coach in Pete Carroll. Dickson said the 42-year-old Canales matches or surpasses all three from an energy standpoint.
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“Dave’s a little bit younger than all these guys. But Dave (has) energy and all of the above,” Dickson said. “If we were looking for a look on defense, he’s out there. Got his cleats on, got his gloves, he’s backpedaling. Dave’s really in shape and Dave has a background in dancing. He’s got salsa going on. He’s a jack of all trades.”
Wait, salsa dancing?
“Dave probably could have been in Hollywood dancing or singing or something like that,” Dickson added. “That’s the type of talent he has. But he’s a football coach.”
Canales is a football coach who is still evolving, according to Smith, who appreciated how Canales approached players during their three seasons together.
“His process is elite. And that’s something that’s more important to me than the results. Having an elite process and understanding how to get things done is very, very critical, especially when you’re going to a new team,” Smith said. “Dave has a great understanding of himself, of what he wants to get done. He’ll learn the players he’s coaching, get to know them as men, get to know what motivates them.”
Canales, who will be formally introduced next week, has said he goes into games being adaptable based on what’s working offensively against certain defensive schemes.
This past season with the Bucs, who boasted a pair of Pro Bowl receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, Canales leaned into the pass game with a resurgent Mayfield, specifically the downfield pass game. Tampa Bay finished seventh in the NFL in pass plays of 20 yards or longer (the Panthers were last), and — according to ESPN — their percentage of passes covering 20 or more yards in the air jumped from 22nd in 2022 (9.5 percent) to fourth (12.9 percent).
“He’s gonna do whatever it takes to win and put up points,” Smith said. “So whether that’s run game, pass game, play-action, dropback, quick game, he’s gonna incorporate it and make it fit the team and adjust to the guys he has.”
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Jacob Eason, a journeyman quarterback who was with Seattle in 2021, said Canales had the quarterbacks do a “self check-in” during training camp to come up with a goal or thought for that day’s practice. Eason could see Canales’ career had an upward trajectory.
“The job description of a head coach is a leader of men, and that’s exactly what Dave Canales is. He’s one of the more — if not the most positive guy I’ve ever been around,” Eason said Thursday. “That’s the thing he promotes. And it’s not that he’s forcing it. It’s how he is. He speaks that way. He thinks that way. He projects that to the team.”
How we feelin this morning @Panthers !?!?!?
Let’s get to work! #KeepPounding
— Dave Canales (@TheCoachCanales) January 26, 2024
Dickson, whose family became close with Canales’ when both were in Seattle, said Canales always emitted great energy — “from him being a great coach and team guy to him being a pillar in the community to him being a church-going and standup guy.”
Canales’ positive spirit was on display on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday morning during his first day in his new job. He’ll need a lot more of it after inheriting a team that finished an NFL-worst 2-15 in 2023, with the 32nd-ranked offense and some gaping holes on the roster.
“I can’t wait to see what he does,” Smith said. “He’s gonna do wonders just for guys in that locker room, just uplift them after having a tough season. He’s gonna come in and have the right energy and the right mindset. It’s gonna be uplifting, and I think it’s gonna help.”
(Photo: Cliff Welch / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
