Four words from Coach Dave Canales, GM Dan Morgan, and the new Carolina Panthers will change the game.
Thursday, the Carolina Panthers (NFL) held a press conference to introduce their new coach, Dave Canales, and general manager, Dan Morgan. They promised that everything would be fine with the team again. One day.
Even though team boss Dave Tepper only said a few words and didn’t answer any questions, the press conference went on for about 45 minutes. But Canales and Morgan did—neither of them ever ran out of words.
Dave Canales, the new head coach of the Carolina Panthers, and Dan Morgan, the new general manager, were very energetic and excited at their first news conference on Thursday.
That won’t be easy because they’ll be taking over the Panthers, who had a 2-15 season and haven’t been to the games since David Tepper bought the team in 2018.
“Today is my day,” Canales said about winning. “It’s first-and-10, I have an entirely fresh set of downs, and I have an entire call sheet at my fingertips. I get to work with a bunch of great people today.”
Morgan, who played linebacker for the Panthers for seven years, received a raise to replace Scott Fitterer as general manager and director for football operations.
He said that Carolina’s culture needs to change, and the people who work there need to be the first ones to do it.
He said, “We want teams to be afraid of that Panthers logo when they drive into this stadium.” “People need to fear our logo again because they aren’t right now.” We need to get that back.”
During the off-season before last, the Carolina Panthers tied their immediate prospects to the success of quarterback Bryce Young, whose first season had more lows than highs.
This off-season, the team had to look for an assistant coach who thought Young could eventually do great things. It looks like they have.
Geno Smith’s comeback made him the NFL’s Comeback Player Player of the Year in 2022. He was also the quarterbacks coach during that time.
At his first press conference as Panthers coach on Thursday morning at Bank of America Stadium, dressed in a suit as well as black cowboy boots, Canales said that his main goal is to get the most out of what Young could contribute to an offense that he is in charge of revitalizing.
“As I got prepared to give this interview, I started to watch Bryce and look at my notes from his evaluation—I mean, that was only a year ago,” Canales said, adding that he’d never come close to having a No. 1 pick on his team before.
“I was getting more and more excited about the chance to have this beautiful talent.” And he’s the right guy who we are all talking about when we have a quarterback. This is the kind of player that the team needs. “That made me very happy.”
It’s not a surprise that Canales is so sure that Young can be unlocked. Fans who don’t follow him closely can say that he’s always done well with quarterbacks.
He started as a lower-level assistant coach and later became the quarterbacks coach in Seattle, where Russell Wilson led the passing offense to numerous victories and a Super Bowl.
Canales got his chance as the quarterback coordinator within Tampa Bay last year, and he helped Baker Mayfield have a similar turnaround. Panthers fans know all too well about Mayfield’s brief decline and subsequent rise to fame.
Canales said, “I want him to grow into the best version of himself that he can be.” “That’s how I’ve been coaching that position throughout the NFL, and that’s how I want to work with him as well.”
I also think about the quarterbacks I’ve worked with over the last few years and these things come to mind: We have a chance to become great at passing like Bryce is.
“Our number will grow until he can handle it.” To do that, you have to be dedicated and strict. Baker had a growth curve there.
This is where we are now. From what we know, let’s put him in these situations to see where he seems most sure of himself.
When I see that back foot firmly planted on the ground and that ball rips through there without a second thought, I know we’re on to something.
Let’s get more of those. “Let’s put it into three different groups of people and a few different formations and motions.”