Three Takeaways From Panthers' Mandatory Minicamp

It's officially the offseason. The Panthers have spent the last several months reshaping its coaching staff and front office, retooling its roster via the draft and free agency, and installing the new offense under Dave Canales.

Over the last month or so, I jotted down some things that I took away from mandatory minicamp, along with rookie minicamp and OTAs.

Young building confidence

It's hard to be confident when you're running for your life week after week and seemingly everything you're involved in is failing. That's what Bryce Young had to battle through as a rookie. With a new system, coaching staff, and personnel in place you can see Young is more relaxed and appears more confident in what he's doing. How this translates when the pads come on is to be seen, but you don't see a whole lot of thinking going on.

Tight end room a strength?

I'm not completely bought in on this tight end group, but I do believe they're much better than we all perceived. Ian Thomas - I know, this is year 85 of someone saying this - looks like he could finally offer something in the passing game. He made a few plays down the field that caught my attention, moving around a little better than he has in previous years. Tommy Tremble could have a breakout year in this offense - one that actually knows how to utilize the tight end. And then you have Ja'Tavion Sanders, who might not have everything figured out just yet but he's such a good athlete that he's going to force his way onto the field in one capacity or another.

A clear identity

This time a year ago, we asked Frank Reich what the team's identity was going to be and he really didn't have an answer. Sometimes that can come off as coach speak, but I think he was telling the truth. He had no idea what they were going to be able to do. They were still searching for that identity at the time of his firing and you could make the argument they never found it. With Dave Canales, it's all about setting the tone in the run game and taking care of the football. It's been his mantra since day one. The running back room may seem crowded, but they're going to need every one of those guys and Canale said as much earlier this week. Going into this month and a half long break knowing what the expectation of the offense should put some minds at ease instead of trying to figure it out as the days go by in training camp.

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