Dave Canales, one on one: Positivity and a ‘great opportunity’ with Bryce Young in Year 2…… more details
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Sitting underneath a mostly clear sky, next to a marble fountain in the courtyard of The Breakers, Dave Canales was asked how he was doing.
The Carolina Panthers’ second-year coach smiled and raised his hands in a kind of shrug, as if to say: “We’re at a world-class resort, the weather is great and we’re about to talk some football. How bad could it beCanales has an admittedly sunny personality, a stream of positive energy so constant it might lead skeptics to question its authenticity — until you remember the decade-plus he spent working for the eternally upbeat and ageless Pete Carroll in Seattle.
“My natural disposition is how good is this day?” Canales said last week at the NFL’s annual league meeting. “Like, how great is this? We’re sitting here in Palm Beach, Florida.”
Canales’ optimism was challenged during his first season as an NFL head coach. While the Panthers finished on a bit of an upswing, their 5-12 record represented the worst team Canales has been a part of since joining Carroll’s inaugural Seahawks staff in 2010. The Seahawks had winning records in 10 of Canales’ 13 seasons in Seattle, with the low-water mark a 7-10 record in 2Canales served in a variety of roles in Seattle but earned the label of “quarterback whisperer” by reviving the careers of the Seahawks’ Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay, where the Buccaneers went 9-8 and beat the Philadelphia Eagles in a playoff game in 2023 during Canales’ only season as their offensive coordinator.
So yes, Canales concedes it was hard to keep smiling through last year’s 1-7 start, a stretch that coincided with his benching of Bryce Young — his latest QB project — and the October car accident that left veteran Andy Dalton with a sprained thumb and necessitated Young’s return to the lineup in Week 8 at DenveDave Canales, one on one: Positivity and a ‘great opportunity’ with Bryce Young in Year 2r.021.?”
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