Dave Canales Talks About Creating a Complete Team

Canales regaled the reporters with memories of his first head coaching job, at his alma mater, Carson High School, whose colors, like the Carolina Panthers, are black and blue. “It was kind of a pinch yourself moment,” Canales said, “and to do it with some guys that I have familiarity with, I saw a lot of proud brother looks from some of the guys.”

With only three players sitting out of the Panthers’ mini-camp, the players sense the excitement and positivity of the Dave Canales era in Carolina. To have all but three players show up for voluntary mini-camp says a lot about the hopes this organization has under Canales and even Dave took notice saying, “I’ve really enjoyed the attendance so far, it’s been really encouraging for guys to just show up and to show excitement for what we’re doing.” 

Dave Canales’ Practice Strategy

But it’s not all fun and games, although Coach prefers to keep things relatively light. “I think it’s a give and take for the coaching staff to make it a good time while they’re here.” He noted that “intentionality” is the word of the day saying the coaches are “trying to be respectful of their time and maximizing those windows, so it’s not ‘just another offseason program’ and give them something to be excited about.” 

In addition to a new identity for the Panthers offense, Canales is also looking to create a new identity for the team during practices. “I’m looking for the culture of what we want at practice. I want guys to have fun, but I want them to be focused and also enjoy it.” One way to ensure that is to create an atmosphere for the guys to feel confident.

Coach said once players feel confident about what they’re doing, their personalities start to show, and that leads to camaraderie. And that is one thing Canales loves to see, saying, “to see the players take over how they break up their own group huddles, and they have their handshakes and their sayings; I love to see that part of it.”

The players aren’t the only ones on the field being monitored by Canales. The coaches are also experiencing changes in terminology and expectations from their new coach. “I’m looking for the right energy. We don’t need a lot of walking and reading. Put your script away and coach it. Let’s have coach feedback every 30 to 40 seconds and really be engaged with guys.” 

Canales wants to “build the offense the way [he] sees it,” and it all starts “with the language,” emphasizing that it’s a new offense with new terms, but if they  “can communicate and speak the same language, [they] can build anything pretty fast.” 

Dave Canales on Making a Complete Team

“The minute we got our staff assembled, it was ‘let’s build a new playbook, this is what we call ‘the things’ whatever you called it before, we gotta change the language.” Harping on the importance of being on the same page, Canales said “It’s huge, we can’t have double coaching, because then we’re stealing bandwidth from our players.” He acknowledged that he can’t be everywhere at once and again went back to the importance of the coaching staff being on the same page to ensure uniformity, saying “We’re saying the same thing and just reinforcing instead of stealing attention away.”

Canale’s message is one of “challenging the roster every year.” He wants every spot to be challenged so that when the draft rolls around and the upcoming talent at different positions is on full display, you take the best one. “I love great players and they come in all shapes and sizes…their talents will make us call plays more.”

He’s not one to rest on his or the team’s laurels saying, “I don’t think you can ever really afford to say, ‘ok, I think we’re set here, we’re good there, so we don’t need to go there with it.’ I think you just add great players to your team.” He doesn’t believe that is a “take the best player available” philosophy, he just believes “when you have great players and a lot of people are on the same page to challenge our team it makes everybody better.”

And what makes a great player? According to Dave Canales, it’s awareness and an “inside-out mentality.” “The guys with awareness get further, faster because they’re constantly working on those things.” The inside-out mentality starts up front in the trenches. Canales said he’s always believed that football starts on the offensive line and the defensive line.

He said it was essential that the Panthers sign players for those critical positions, noting “those were the first moves we made were upfront on offense and defense, you know and just the transition of guys as we go through the roster we go through changes making sure that we have that inside out mentality has been a real key focus for us.”