Why Dave Canales might be setting Bryce Young up to fail

At the end of last year, it looked as if Dave Canales and Bryce Young could be a winning combination for the Carolina Panthers. The offense looked smooth, creative, and successful. What's more, it looked like it was designed to work around Young's strengths, which is something the Frank Reich offense never appeared to be.

Fast forward to now, and that offense is all but gone. Things have gone stale, and the offense looks like it's a major challenge for everyone involved. That might be the fault of Canales, who could be inadvertently making life harder for Young.

Last season, it became evident that Young excelled with going under center, utilizing I-formation, and using bootlegs to roll out and get him on the move. RPOs worked pretty well, too, but all of that is largely absent now in 2025.

There's no clear reason for this, but the Panthers tend to send Young out into shotgun most of the time. There's not a lot of variety in the passing game or the running game. Things improved slightly for a bit on Sunday, but when the final drive came around, things got stale once again.

Sep 14, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) signals during the third quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images | Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

There's no creativity, which, if you recall, was a staple of Young's game in college. The quarterback thrives making plays out of structure, or at least he did, but Canales tries to call things in a much more structured manner. Things are way too conservative on that side of the ball, and that doesn't play to Young's strengths.

In fact, it seems to play to no one's strengths. The Panthers are averaging less than three yards per rush attempt. Xavier Legette looks like a shell of himself, and that version wasn't even that good to begin with. The only player who can actually get going is Tetairoa McMillan. For everyone else, the offense seems designed specifically to be harder for them, especially Young.

Canales showed a lot of growth right alongside Young last season, slowly opening up a much better playbook and coming up with good concepts to run in conjunction with his quarterback. It's unclear why, but that has since faded.

There's a genuine concern that Young has regressed since his breakout, but I'd argue that the same has to be true of both if anything at all. Canales has taken a step back in his play-calling, scheme design, and offensive tendencies, and it's not working out right now.

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