Dan Morgan & Dave Canales - A Duo Panthers Fans Can Trust
Since 2018, Carolina Panther fans have been through a lot. They've had to endure three coaching changes, three GM changes, and seeing the likes of Cam Newton, Greg Olsen, Luke Kuechly, and several other franchise greats move on. It's been a long, difficult transition - one that has produced zero winning seasons.
The handling of that transition did not sit well with much of the fanbase, developing a lack of trust in ownership on down. But for once, it feels like the Panthers have the right duo leading the charge in Dan Morgan and Dave Canales.
Sure, it's still the honeymoon phase and there's never been an introductory press conference where a coach or GM didn't win over some fans and provide excitement about the future, but this was a little different.
Morgan is a son of the organization having played for the Panthers for seven seasons and was a big factor in their run to the Super Bowl in 2003. He knows what it has to look like for this organization to be successful and has also been a part of some of the darkest days in the franchise's history. He gets it and sometimes, that alone can make a decision-maker successful.
"I think when you talk about building the roster, I think it starts with competitors, guys that are passionate about football. We want to draft guys and sign guys in free agency that are passionate about football, that love football," Morgan said. "We have a lot of guys in the locker room right now that love football and are passionate, but we need to get more.
"The dog part of it, we need guys that are hungry to go out there and inflict pain on their opponents. We need guys with toughness. We need physicality. We need those type of things, just to put it plainly.
"We haven't had enough of that, and that's going to be our DNA to where when people drive up to Bank of America Stadium, they know they're in for a dogfight, so that's what we want to create here."
The first key decision Morgan had to make was the head coach. Dave Canales didn't interview for any other head coaching vacancy this offseason and there are some around the league that feel he would have been one of the top candidates this time next year. Morgan spent seven years with Canales in Seattle and saw the type of coach and person he is and knew he was the best guy for the job.
Canales has enthusiasm, poise, a clear vision, conviction, and most importantly, alignment with the GM - something that has been non-existent in Carolina for the past five years. Being on the same page eliminates half of the Panthers' problems immediately.
But the number one thing that I took away from the press conference was Canales' confidence. He understands what he's walking into and it's similar to the job he took in Tampa Bay a year ago. No one wanted to touch the Bucs' offensive coordinator job because it looked like a team primed to finish at or near the bottom of the league. What he did with Baker Mayfield and that offense was remarkable - quite possibly one of the best coaching jobs in the NFL this season.
To help Bryce Young develop into the franchise quarterback everyone pegged him to be, you need the right coach AND person in place. Canales checks both boxes. He's worked with smaller quarterbacks before and has profound success with them, i.e. Russell Wilson, Baker Mayfield. He's also helped revive the careers of two quarterbacks that appeared to be on their last leg, i.e. Geno Smith, Mayfield.
The dude knows how to coach the quarterback position.
He also knows how to lead. That calm, yet confident demeanor is exactly what Bryce needs around him in the infancy of his NFL career. In his rookie season, it felt like he and the offensive assistants were scrambling searching for answers on the fly. Canales already has the secret sauce when it comes to getting the most out of quarterbacks, so when adversity hits, and it will, his ability to remain calm and confident in figuring it out will help Young immensely.
Not only do I believe the Morgan-Canales tandem is good for Bryce Young and the rest of the organization, but the fanbase too. This is the first time in a long time where it feels like the Panthers want to get back to the type of football they played when they were winning division titles and making the playoffs. A hard-nosed, gritty, blue-collar team is easy to get behind. Having a former player with that attitude run the front office is a fan's dream. But to have a head coach that wants to develop a rapport with the fans is icing on the cake.
"What's important to me is that we all grow to have a relationship," Canales said about engaging with fans on social media. "As we have a chance to get into more detail about what we're looking for from a football standpoint, my hope is that I can show you what to look for and what we're going to try to become. From a philosophical standpoint, of course the whys and the hows, that's going to be depending on what our players are.
"My hope is that if I put this out there and I say this is who we're going to be, that we're able to have this relationship where you keep me accountable on this. You said we're going to play this brand of football, you guys are crazy about the ball. We had three turnovers last week, we were minus two or we were minus three, and I'll be able to say, that's a great point, that's not the kind of football we want to play.
"My hope is that we can kind of grow in that relationship as we have that expectation for who we're going to become."
That type of transparency is what fans want. They don't want the ho-hum "we've got to watch the tape" answer. Canales will be detailed about what happened on the field and do his best to give an explanation for why something worked or why it didn't. He's not the type to hide from criticism. He's a straight shooter and having that quality will earn trust from the fans.
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