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The Carolina Panthers announced Thursday night that they completed an interview with Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales for their head-coaching vacancy.
The 42-year-old spent 13 years with the Seattle Seahawks (2010-22) in a variety of rolls, including the offensive quality control coach, assistant quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach, quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator before taking over as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator last season.
Under his watch, the Buccaneers finished 22nd in yards (313 YPG) and 20th in points scored (20.5 PPG), which on the surface aren’t terribly impressive numbers.
But Baker Mayfield had the best season of his career with Canales at offensive coordinator, throwing for career highs in passing yards (4,044), touchdowns (28) and completion percentage (64.3 percent) while throwing 10 interceptions and taking 40 sacks.
Mayfield isn’t an elite option at the position by any stretch—and the Bucs only went 9-8 this season—but Canales deserves credit for putting together a system and weekly game plan that tailored to the veteran quarterback’s strengths.
It wasn’t always pretty. The Bucs only put up 13 points in a Week 17 loss to the New Orleans Saints and squeaked out a 9-0 win over the cellar-dweller Panthers to end the regular season. But the team also put 32 points on the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round, with 30 of those points coming from the offense.
Yes, the Philly defense had devolved into an absolute disaster by the end of the season. Still, Mayfield, Canales and the Bucs looked good.
As for the Panthers, the team has been busy, interviewing interim head coach Chris Tabor, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, the Baltimore Ravens pair of offensive coordinator Todd Monken and defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan and Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik.
The Panthers are clearly casting a wide net as they look to recover from a disastrous 2023 season that saw former head coach Frank Reich fired midseason and No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young struggle immensely at the quarterback position.
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