INDIANAPOLIS — A little more than two years after Dave Canales arrived in Charlotte as an up-and-coming offensive coach with a reputation as a quarterback whisperer, he gave up his role as the Carolina Panthers’ play caller.
It was a curious move, coming on the heels of the Panthers’ first playoff berth in eight years and involving a handoff from a coach who’d called plays in the NFL for three seasons to one who — aside from a couple of preseason games — has never done it.
But there have been grumblings inside the organization about Canales’ at-times conservative approach, the scarcity of downfield shots in the passing game and the tempo of the Bryce Young-led offense.
Canales said the decision to give play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Brad Idzik was his, but he arrived at it with the support of owner David Tepper and general manager Dan Morgan.
If that’s the case and Canales wasn’t pressured to make the switch, he deserves credit for checking his ego at the players and coaches entrance to Bank of America Stadium, giving up something that was a big part of his coaching identity and that he’d worked toward for 13 years in Seattle before finally getting his opportunity to call plays with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023.
“This was my decision. It was extremely difficult for me because I do enjoy calling plays. It’s a part of the game that really thrills me. I get a lot of gratification of watching the plan unfold on Sundays and just the high-stake moments,” Canales said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
“Certainly humbling to have to kind of swallow that and say, ‘OK, am I the best guy for this job?’” he added. “That is definitely what I wrestled with. But I believe this is the right thing for the Panthers.”
The Panthers were among the NFL’s worst offenses in Canales’ first two seasons, and averaged 18.3 points a game last season when they won the NFC South with a losing record. Carolina saw a significant drop in downfield throws from 2024 to 2025. In 2024, 11 percent of the Panthers’ pass attempts were at least 20 yards down the field (16th in the NFL). But last season, that number dropped to 8 percent (31st), although they were more efficient than the previous season with a 118.9 passer rating (fourth in the NFL) compared to 75.4 (19th) in 2024, per TruMedia.
Canales is a gifted motivator who cares about connecting with his players. And while transitioning to more of a CEO role will free up Canales to better communicate with officials and handle game-management decisions, he said it goes beyond that.
“It’s also being able to affect and impact your players live. As guys come on and off the field, to be able to connect with them. To see something fundamentally — I know can help this player,” Canales said. “Let’s not wait until Monday when I watch the film to be able to help somebody or talk to a coach and say, ‘Hey, this is happening.’ Can I affect our whole team in a more positive way? And this is an opportunity for me to do that.”
With apologies to the other 52 players on the roster, Canales’ ability to impact Young trumps all. The two have had a strained relationship, beginning when Canales benched the No. 1 pick and 2021 Heisman winner three games into Young’s second season.
Young hasn’t shared much about his reaction to the benching. But he opened up to Ryan Clark last week, telling the former NFL player and ESPN analyst how difficult the experience was after being told he was being replaced by Andy Dalton.
“I didn’t want to go back home. I just drove for like hours. I didn’t know where I was going. I put Atlanta in my GPS. I knew I wasn’t going to go all the way to Atlanta,” Young said on Clark’s “The Pivot Podcast.” “But I didn’t know what was up, what was down in that time.”
It took a car accident and a thumb injury to Dalton for Young to regain his starting spot, and he’s played better since the benching. Canales made efforts to repair the relationship, including showing up to Young’s youth football camp last summer at Johnson C. Smith. Still, some have questioned if Canales’ play calling showed a lack of faith in Young.
Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik will now be calling plays for quarterback Bryce Young. (Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)
Canales on Tuesday said Young was a “part of the process” to change play callers. He later clarified his comment while talking to a smaller group of Charlotte reporters, saying he hadn’t asked Young to be involved in the decision.
“This was a decision made,” Canales said. “I wanted him to be a part of on the front end of it, instead of hearing it secondhand.”
Canales said he’d had a couple of conversations with Young over the last couple of weeks. So by the time Idzik called him Tuesday afternoon, Young was aware of the switch.
“He was excited. I told him how jealous I was that he was in California right now and couldn’t wait to link back up,” said Idzik, referring to the frigid temperatures in Indianapolis.
Young doesn’t need any warming up to Idzik, the 34-year-old former Wake Forest receiver who was the only Seattle Seahawks assistant who went with Canales to Tampa when Canales was hired as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator. Young and Idzik already have a rapport.
“I’m there. I’m there in the meeting rooms. When you’re the head coach, you get pulled away for you (media) guys. You get pulled away for a bunch of different things you have to do as a head coach,” Idzik said. “But just being in tune and in touch with all those small moments that happen throughout the day, I’m there for him. We’ve had a great dialogue throughout the seasons as they go and throughout this offseason.”
Young doesn’t have a background with recently hired offensive specialist Darrell Bevell, who was the play caller for the Seahawks’ back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in the 2013 and ’14 seasons. Bevell, who was in Seattle with Canales and Morgan, will also have a hand in the offense.
But it’s Idzik’s show now, and he’s fired up for his first chance to call plays. How long he gets to do it will depend greatly on how Young plays and the growth he shows while playing for a second contract.
The Panthers won back a lot of goodwill with their fans last season by snapping a playoff drought and taking the Los Angeles Rams to the wire in the wild-card round. Canales’ job change shows neither he nor the rest of the organization is content with standing pat.