Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales may like to use a lot of words, but none of them are seemingly wasted.
Wide receiver Adam Thielen hopped on Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning Football, where host Kyle Brandt asked him about his team’s new leader. While the 10-year veteran admitted to not knowing much about Canales prior to his hiring, he’s already gained an appreciation for his work.
“Before he was hired, I really didn’t know a lot about him. I knew of him, didn’t know a lot about him,” Thielen said. “So, really, to hear his background, his coaching background, maybe the little bit of chip on his shoulder he has from being overlooked for a lot of years and what he’s able to do with a lot of different quarterbacks that he had in his room over the years—it really impressed me.”
That coaching background includes an impressive streak of success from under center—whether he was the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator in Seattle or the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay. Canales was a part of Russell Wilson’s four straight Pro Bowl selections from 2018 to 2021 and helped push Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield to career campaigns in 2022 and 2023.
Thielen also praised the 42-year-old coach for the person that he is.
“It all comes back to the energy he brings, the passion,” he added of Canales. “You can tell he’s a real guy. One of the first conversations we had, I’m not gonna get into details, but he was extremely real with me and very honest and open. And you can really respect that. ‘Cause in this league, you don’t get a lot of that.”
Well, it feels as though Thielen and the Panthers have already gotten a lot of it thus far.
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