Panthers HC Dave Canales’s Play-Calling Switch Might Ruin Bryce Young

The 2026 NFL season will mark Dave Canales’s third year as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers. He inherited a 2-15 team and thanks to a strong second-half showing, the club finished with three more wins (5) than it had in 2023. That was also the case this past season. The Panthers improved to 8-9, overcoming an 0-2 start, and edged out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons for the NFC South title thanks to a tiebreaker.

President of football operations/general manager Dan Morgan continues to bolster both sides of the football. In terms of the offense, there will be new faces at left tackle (Rasheed Walker and/or Monroe Freeling) and center (Luke Fortner and/or Sam Hecht). Morgan also used a third-round pick to add speedy wideout Chris Brazzell II, joining 2025 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker, and Xavier Legette.

There will be a major change to the Panthers’ offense in 2026

Of course, there is also something new when it comes to the Carolina offense, despite the fact he joined the team that same year as Canales. This season, offensive coordinator Brad Idzik will handle the play-calling instead of the head coach.

"It was extremely difficult for me because I do enjoy calling plays," explained Canales back in February via Kassidy Hill of Panthers.com. “It's a part of the game that really thrills me. I get a lot of gratification out of watching the plan unfold on Sundays, and just the high-stakes moments like those are incredible moments to be able to make critical calls and to put guys in positions to give ourselves a chance to win, and so I certainly didn't want to give that part up.”

Apparently, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky didn’t want Canales to give up the offensive play-calling as well.

"I think if you're hired because of your play calling you should not give up play calling..

I think Dave Canales is a good play caller so I don't love that he's giving it up" ~ @danorlovsky7 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/tv3YfhRJqb
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 28, 2026

It’s certainly not an outlandish take considering the Panthers’ current sideline leader got his current job after one season of handling those duties for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then again, Carolina’s offense hasn’t exactly taken the NFL by storm the past two seasons by any stretch of the imagination. Led primarily by quarterback Bryce Young, the Panthers ranked 29th in the league in total yards per game in 2024, and 27th in the NFL this past season.

What happened to Carolina’s running game after a strong start?

What was hard to ignore was the team’s lack of a ground attack the second half of 2025. In the team’s first nine games, propelled mostly by running back Rico Dowdle, Carolina totaled at least 25 runs in eight of those outings, and the club averaged 139.8 yards per game on the ground.

In their final nine contests, including the playoff loss to Sean McVay’s Rams, the commitment to the running game just wasn’t there. The Panthers managed a mere 89.1 yards rushing per contest, and ran for just 100-plus yards in only three of those nine games.

It’s obvious Canales is looking for what works best for the team, and at the very least opponents won’t have too much to go on in terms of preparation. Hence, this may be quite the unpredictable attack early in 2026. And that might wind up being a positive and not a negative for Young, who may be on the verge of a breakout campaign.

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