So Chris, Dave Canals has given up play calling. He’s giving up play calling. I’m shocked. Not gonna lie. It threw me off. Yeah, you know, it wasn’t the thing that I had on my bingo card for the 2026 Carolina Panthers, but it might be the very thing that he needed to do for the team to take the next step. That’s true. That’s true. There are pros and cons to both, Chris. I think we got to discuss it. All right. Let’s get this sucker started. Get dialed in, Panthers fans. Here comes an in-depth look at your team. Exclusive interviews, locker room insight. Let’s huddle up for Panthers Playbook presented by Wake Orthopedics, a WakeMed physician practice. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panthers Playbook. That’s Chris. The Emmy Award-winning Chris Lee and Dennis Cox here with you as well. Big shout out to Wake Orthopedic, the sponsor here at Panthers Playbook. By the way, like this video, please. Hype it up. Subscribe if you haven’t already. But also, we want to know your thoughts on Dave Canales giving up play calling to Brad Idzik. Let us know your thoughts. Good move, bad move? What are the pros and cons? And Chris, I see both sides of it. I remember last week when we talked about Bryce Young and Dave Canales and how it’s a big year for the two of them coming in. To 2026. And I said, the Panthers are one of just nine teams in the entire NFL that had the same play caller and quarterback for the third straight year. Scrap that. That, that number just, just reduced because Brad Idzik, who’s been the offensive coordinator the last couple of years, has taken over as play caller. Again, I see pros and cons of both, but I think starting on the pro side of things, like you mentioned, It’s gonna allow Dave Canales to actually just run the team and be a head coach. Absolutely just to add in there, uh, uh, our, our friend, uh, that used to be with the New Orleans Saints, Sean, Sean Payton, he’s given up play calling as well, so that’s gonna be interesting to see that. But, um, I, I had a lot of mixed feelings about this overall. I think this is a positive thing for the Carolina Panthers. Unfortunately. We don’t know what the outcome is gonna be. Like this isn’t something that I feel like this is a surefire win. Like at the end of the season, this is gonna be amazing for everybody, but I do have a few thoughts on like where it is. Like, first off, something we’ve, we’ve been saying the Panthers need to do something different. For their offense, you couldn’t go into 2026 just doing the same old thing. Changing up the play caller can be a little bit different, even though this same person’s been here for a while. Also having Darryl Bellville, uh, helps. Uh, we’ll see how it works out in the long run, but I, I feel like there’s gonna be four people who are gonna be impacted the most Canalis himself, Brad Idzik, and the rest of the offensive staff. I’ll get into that. I’m putting, I’m lumping them together. Bryce Young. And also he’s Giro Everro. Interesting. First off, let me start, uh, with, uh, with Dave Canales. Um, first off, I think this is big of him to show that he can. Uh, take away the reins. I also think that like, he put his ego aside. He put his ego aside and, uh, it’s, it’s big of him to say like, hey, it’s time to do something else. And he said, uh, in, uh, a press conference in Indianapolis, uh, right there at the combine, I wanted to take a more global approach to the team. He’s learning how to be a head coach, and I think we’ve seen the misstep. In the first couple of years of trying to juggle, um, you know, being, uh, the head coach and also being the play caller, he’s probably let a few things slide on defense. We’ll get to that in a second because he had to call plays on offense. Uh, so this allows him to be there a little bit, be a little bit more present, and I think we’ve seen flashes of good game. Planning like the Green Bay game was pretty much all game planning and and coaching, you know, pretty much for the Carolina Panthers. They came in with a plan. They executed that plan. They got the win that they weren’t supposed to get. And if Dave Canales can free himself up to do more of that, that’s good for the Carolina Panthers. All right, let’s talk about Brad Idzik. All right, real quick on, real quick on Dave Canales here. So, The fact that he said, I gotta look and see what’s best for the team. Because that’s his, his number one thing, do what’s best for the team. And, again, setting his ego aside and he’s like, I’m gonna give this up. For the betterment of the team as a whole. That’s a big boy move. That’s a big boy move that a lot of coaches and a lot of people wouldn’t give that up. Like, no, you’re gonna have to pry it off my cold dead hands or fire me if I’m gonna, if I’m gonna give this up. So there’s, I, I, so I respect Dave Canales for making that move. And some people are gonna say, well, that David Tepper made him do it. And I’m like, well, why would Tepper, After you just made the playoffs, force that move to someone that’s already been on the staff. I believe Canal said it was his idea. He did. He 100% did, and I believe it because we’ve seen David Tepper, not trying to defend David Tepper, but David Tepper be hands off over the last couple of seasons. So anyway. That’s, that’s the thought on Canales is just doing that. That’s a big boy move that not a lot of people would make. So another part of this being a big boy move is understanding that when you are, uh, being a micromanager, it’s hard for other people to really grow. We’ve said before. I’m, we’re a little concerned with the fact that who are the future head coaches on this team, and this allows Brad Idzik to now try to step into himself as a coach. So now that he has control over something, and I also think that signals to the rest of the offensive staff, oh wait a minute, my, my ideas can fly here. Not that it probably didn’t before, but now you have, uh, probably an easier time because I think we’ve seen Dave Canals will come in the game with a particular plan if it. Doesn’t go the way he wants to in the 1st quarter, deviates from it, right? I don’t know if he had that like, like this feels right at the moment, so let me go with this. It’s more so, nope. Bryce, through that early interception, we’re gonna go over here and now whatever ideas I, I gave up during the entire week are not gonna be used. This probably allows you a little bit more leeway to get your ideas used, and I think it allows Brad Idzik to grow as a coach, potentially into a head coach, which ultimately if this guy. Has a great 2 years and leaves, that’s best for the Carolina Panthers, honestly. It can be. And here’s the thing as well, Brad Idzik, they’re running the same offense. So it’s not like they’re completely, that the offense isn’t gonna completely change, but it might be good to have a fresh voice, especially with Darryl Bevel coming in as well, adding a little bit of aspect to it. So it’s not like Brad Idzik is installing something completely different, which is again, that’s on the pro side of things. For, for Bryce Young, this is where it helps him. I think it helps give him a better voice in the offense because if you’re gonna, if you’re gonna try to put your resources into Bryce Young, you’ve already built an offensive line in front of him. You, you’re trying to help him on the other side of the ball with defense. You gave him Tederoa McMillan. There’s other things that you need to make sure that you solidify for him, uh, to try to win with him and try to get him to that next contract. He also needs a bigger voice on what happens. And I think we’ve seen a lot of times where If we’re reading lips on the sideline after, uh, a flea fit flicker on the 25 yard line in the rain in the 4th quarter while you’re down, um, and he’s kind of like in a must-win game and it’s like why do we call that? I don’t understand why we call these things. We know that Bryce Young and Dave Canals have had their frustrations with each other. I think this helps save their relationship. I think he gives Bryce Young a better voice in the offense and maybe he can have a different relationship with the, uh, offensive coordinator who’s actually calling plays that is separate from the head coach so he can go to his head coach about other matters. uh, and I think that this is probably best for both of them in the long run. Because Canales as a, as a play caller, obviously, he’s got to work in concert with Bryce Young as the quarterback. But again, he is, like you mentioned, all the other tasks of being a head coach. I still got to, you know, help with the special teams and coordinate and all that stuff with the defense and just formulate the game plan as a whole. Whereas Brad Idzik, his sole focus is just How can I help Bryce in this offense? That’s it. That’s his sole focus and Bryson just want those two guys in lockstep with each other. So that to me, that’s on the pro side of things. But I will say this for Brad Idzik though. And, and for Bryce Young, this is, I think, this is, there’s my concern when it comes to this. You’re tasking a guy who’s never called plays in the NFL, never called plays at any level outside of some preseason games. Never called plays before to try and elevate a team that finished twenty-seventh in scoring last year. That didn’t have back to back 20+ point games, but one time. It was like a short stretch that went win loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss for much of the season last year. That finished in the bottom third in the NFL in yards per play, passing yards, and so many other of these key statistics. And you’re turning that over to a guy who’s never called plays before. That’s a tough task. That’s a real tough ask. That’s a really difficult spot for Brad Izzik to be in, in my opinion. That’s really difficult because if it fails, now we point directly at him like, hey, nothing got better, so why are you having play calling now? Like that’s a real thing. You talked about a big boy move before. The other big boy move, I think, is bringing in Darryl Bevel because If you’re going to do this, you gotta make sure that this person is set up to succeed as much as possible because we know that he hasn’t done this before and now you have somebody who is essentially his specific mentor on this, uh, staff to help him out. I agree with you. If, if, if this. It was just something that was um announced without the idea of what Devil Darryl Bevel is there for, then yeah, I’d be like, oh I don’t know about this but the fact that we’ve known for a couple of weeks that Darryl Bevel is gonna be here, not saying it’s gonna be, uh, it’s gonna be this the magic key that unlocks Brad Idzik as a play caller, but at least He has a sounding board during the game and, and that frees up Dave Canales so that he can tend to the entire team and take that what he called a global approach. So, um, I, I, I’m with you. It could go sour and it wasn’t really good to begin with, but also I, I like the idea that the head coach gets a chance to be the head coach. The offensive coordinator can be the offensive coordinator, and he has a mentor on the staff with him. Uh, just like, uh, when Ijiro Everil, uh, he had, uh, coach Dom Capers on the staff with him. He’s no longer with the Panthers. Uh, he moved on. I can’t remember where he went to, uh, Cleveland. Why would you wanna go to Cleveland, but, um. Maybe they’re paying more, I don’t know, um, but he had that with him as well. This is a good setup for him, and I, and I like that what’s, what’s there. If you don’t mind. I don’t mind. This is the main reason why I feel like outside of the things that I mentioned, those are all good reasons. This is the main reason why I think this, this needed to be made. Iiro Ero. OK, how so? Dave kind of gave us a little bit, we say in the pro wrestling world like if I’m letting you know, um, something like it’s time to do something in in a match, I’m giving you the eggy, right? That’s, that’s an insider terminology right from, from a, a former pro wrestler to all right, let’s go. So I think Dave Canales gave us the iggy when he said, um, instead of worrying about, uh, while the defense is out on the field about, you know, what’s going on with that, what’s what plays are being called, what personnel is out there, worrying about like what’s coming up next for offense personnels, what are our situations and kind of doing that along with being a head coach, you know, he can now take that global approach and be more invested in what the defense is doing. And I think that that is probably the number one reason in his mind because there’s been a lot of head scratching things. I think that Dave Canales can look at Ijiro Eone and say, that is a good coach. I like the system he runs. Don’t all the way like the way he executes this, right? You’ve probably worked with people or even coached players where you’re like, uh, in lacrosse, athleticism is there. I love, uh, the tools that they have and, and the way that they approach the game. Sometimes the decision making is a little off. That’s where I need to tweak. I think that’s there when you see like Derrek Brown dropping back in coverage when you’re seeing Princely Umami Ellen on a 3rd and 7 drop back in coverage, and he is the main guy of the two that you, um, uh, drafted last year that on 3rd and 7th, that’s the, that’s the main guy you want to be going at the quarterback because of his abilities to do that. He was drafted to get after the quarterback when covered when you talk about it’s 3rd and 4. For the Rams and my DBs are 8 yards off of the line of scrimmage. Making it easy for them to just go ahead and and move the sticks, not being, not being aggressive, uh, not having enough stunts or twists at the line of scrimmage, something that you bring up all the time. There’s just certain things and, uh, uh, a lack of aggression and certain head scratching moves where it’s like, I like what you’re doing in theory, but why are we doing this? I think this gives Dave Canales more room. To be more critical in game, to say no, we’re not doing that in-game. And so you don’t have to do something as drastic as cut this player because you refuse to play this player like we saw after week 4 with DJ Johnson. So like now this is Dave Canal saying, I’m taking my team back. All the way around. I’ve got offense. I trust this guy. He’s been with me through Seattle, Tampa, and now here. I trust this guy. We’re, we, we’re on the same page. I like what you’re doing over here. We’re not always on the same page. I need to watch you a little bit. We have talked about how there’s been some level of disconnect between Ere and Canales, and I, you and I have been critical of Canales in the past. Again, this is, we’ve been critical of him in the past for the fact that Hey, look, you’re the head coach of the team. Defense is still your responsibility too. I know you’re the play caller and we know you as an offensive guy, but you’re the head coach. Everything falls under your umbrella. You need to step across the hall as well and, and do something with the defense to make it better. And I agree with you 100% wholeheartedly that this is his time to say, I’m walking across the hall. I’m walking across the ha’s what this is all about to me. Yeah, I 100% agree with you on that and Isaac has basically, for lack of a better term, has been groomed to be a, a play caller. Like you said, he was with him in Tampa, with him in Seattle, with him in Tampa, brought him over here as the offensive coordinator. Now you’ve developed, here’s your chance, go. And you do have the fallback option of Bevel because remember, Bevel was the offensive coordinator in Seattle when Canales was there, and he was the offensive coordinator when they went to Super Bowl back to back years. When they won one doesn’t hurt when you have Marshawn Lynch. But nonetheless, so you haven’t experienced, well, that’s, that’s a rehash that, that’s, that’s a long time ago. But, but nonetheless, you have someone, if Brad Idzik, if it really goes south, you have a fallback option. You genuinely do. But I think Dave Canal is stepping across the hallway, down the hall, however you want to describe it. And saying, all right, look, When we have a lead late in a game in a playoff game, we ain’t sitting soft. We ain’t doing that. We ain’t sitting soft pause. We gotta be tough. Like plain and simple. We gotta be tough. We have the guys and the horses that can do this. We have to make sure that we use our guys to their best ability. And if Dave Canales as a head coach, can put his ego aside. And say I gotta do what’s best for the team. That sends a message to everyone else in the entire organization, especially every player and every coach. You better put your damn ego aside to do what’s best for the team. It’s not about you. It’s not about what you’re comfortable with. Hey, if we bring Nick Scott back, that’s great. He’s, he’s gonna be great in the locker room. He can, uh, run certain, uh, he can play special teams. He can run certain packages. He could be there as a backup. But we better play Lathan Ransom. And, and, and this is, and, and that’s really like again what I’ve said before, I think that’s really what a lot of this is about and, and there’s a lot of questions that we’ve had after the season, and I feel like with these small moves they’re starting to answer these like we really wanted to be like, hey, we should probably look in another direction for a defensive coordinator. But if you’re not going to, this is the, this is the move that you need to make because you just, even on offense, we just said it a few moments ago, you couldn’t go into 2026 doing the same thing on defense you couldn’t go into 2026 doing the same thing. The global approach, I love that he said that. And, and I think he’s understanding his limitations as one man, knowing that, OK, I would love to have control over this. This is my baby. This is what I want to happen, but I can’t sit back and review the tape and see the ways that we allow the, the LA Rams to continue to be on the field in the 4th quarter because of just A lack of aggression on defense. Other times it happened throughout the season as well. We could have picked up a few more wins in the season. We possibly could have moved on in the playoffs. Like Bryce Young has said himself a bunch of times, getting to the playoffs was not the, not a consolation prize. They were there. They wanted to actually win and move on and try to get as close to the Super Bowl as possible. So now that you’re there, let’s analyze why we didn’t win. Let’s not just be happy that we, we backed in with the 8-9 record. What can we do to move on? And the offense was cooking. Offense looks fine. For the most part, there’s things that you could do. There’s things you could do differently, but as far as that one game versus the Rams, offense played well enough to get the win. Very well did. The defense. Individual players played well, but sometimes the scheme takes them out of it, and we’ve talked about that before, and that’s something that Prince Umami Allen kind of, uh, hinted towards. It’s, it’s not the players, we got the players. It’s what we’re told to do with it. The Panthers, let’s not forget, people are gonna say, well, they won the division last year. Look. They needed the Falcons to beat the Saints on that last Sunday of the NFL season to win the division. You’ve still finished 8 and 9. You finished 1 and 4, including the playoffs down the down the stretch of the season, including the playoff game. You finished 1 and 4 when you had every opportunity to win games like the Saints on the road playing soft defense. Now granted, the offense soft, SAWFD soft. Offense definitely was playing a part in that as well. You only scored 17 points, but late in the game when you needed it, defense needed to be there. It puts, again, everyone in check. Put the needs of the team over your own wants. That’s what Dave Canales just did. He put the needs of the team over his own wants. And look, and that is important. This could end up being an abject failure this entire year 100% 100%. But the thing that I like is that you tried something different, and, uh, the fact that you actually, I would rather you go down swinging, uh, than to go down saying, no, no, no, this defense works, uh, uh, 00, you’re getting hit in the face. No, this defense works. No, you’re trying something a little bit different. Um, and you’re, you’re trying to see what’s going on now. NFL is very tough to win. It’s very tough to win in the NFL. It’s not easy at all. So especially with the history of the NFC South, you take away the, uh, you know, mid, you know, 2010s Carolina. Panthers and you take away the Tom Brady years from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you don’t have a lot of repeat NFC South champions. It usually alternates. Uh, the Carolina Panthers from 2013 to 201515 were the first, uh, team to, to win, uh, the division three times in a row. It didn’t happen again until Tom Brady came to Tampa. So, um. It’s not a guarantee that they’re gonna come up and, and do that. I think we saw Tyler Shuck in New Orleans. They have some momentum. They have a lot of reason to be excited themselves. Uh, if for Tampa Bay, honestly, the way they started the season in 2025, they just got beat up, they just got beat up and had a lot of injuries. If, you know, they can stay healthy next year, who knows what happens, and maybe Kevin Stefanski is the voice that, uh, that the, uh, Falcons need. To get their roster together, I mean, I think they have one of the best as far as the offense, one of the best rosters in the NFL. They just can never do anything with it. Maybe Kevin Stefansky can be the person to unlock that. So it’s gonna be a tougher division, and you’re gonna have a tougher schedule this year based off of, you know, win percentages last year and, and, and, you know, where people finished. So you’re gonna have to bring your A game. But I’m glad they’re doing something different to get there. That’s true. That’s very glad they’re doing something different to get there. Do you like the move? Yes or no? Let us know in the comment section your thoughts on Dave Canales. He’s, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Shout out to Wake Orthopedics, the sponsor of Panthers Playbook. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, concussion. Man, that’s rough, man. Cold. Hey, that’s one of my favorite wrestlers, man. Shout out to Daniel Bryanson. Oh, Daniel, Daniel Bryanson. Daniel Bryanson, Brian Danielson. Daniel Bryant. Shout him out. Brian Danielson, thank you guys for watching. We’ll see y’all next week.
