A surprise! The #Panthers are closing in on a hire: It’s #Bucs OC Dave Canales as their new head coach, sources say. A first-time coordinator, his work in Tampa this year — especially with Baker Mayfield — stood out.
On to Bryce Young. pic.twitter.com/NEIGnt36O3
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 25, 2024
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense showed some potential under new offensive coordinator [autotag]Dave Canales[/autotag]. Suddenly, though, the team is in need of a new OC and it’ll be competing against Canales twice a year.
The NFL’s Ian Rapoport reported Thursday that Canales is finalizing a deal with the Carolina Panthers to become their next head coach. The hiring comes after Canales interviewed with Carolina twice, once digitally before the Bucs played the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round and once this week in person.
Canales has connections with Carolina already. The Panthers decided to hire Dan Morgan as their general manager, and Morgan and Canales worked with each other in Seattle under Pete Carroll. Canales is Carolina’s pick to try and right the ship and to help develop QB Bryce Young, who the Panthers took with the first-overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
In his one (and now only) season in Tampa Bay, Canales’ offense ranked 18th in the NFL in points per game (21.2) and 20th in yards per game (323.9). His offense was quite good on third downs, converting them at the 10th-highest rate in the league (41.22%), but his unit was abysmal in the red zone, converting at the 27th-highest rate in the league (48.08%).
Another thing to watch is who Canales picks for his staff. It’s well possible that Canales could poach more offensive assistants from the Bucs, such as wide receivers coach Brad Idzik.
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