Dave Canales looks back on his first conversation with Bryce Young

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales had some encouraging words for Bryce Young when the two first met. While speaking to reporters last week, Canales opened up about what he said to his young quarterback during their first conversation.

“His message was great. He was like think about all the lessons I learned this year. I talked to him about you got 16 games under your belt moving forward here,” Canales said. “So there’s some carryover with some stuff, but it was just about looking forward. It’s about taking each step of the way, trusting the process, trusting the progression of how we teach our quarterbacks and how we teach our offense.

“That’s what he’s really bought into is just today matters, be better than yesterday, and he was. He continues to show that ability to just take the new information, take the little adjustments and just incorporate it to his game. And he’s got a great demeanor about it. There’s no panic with him. …He’s got a real true self-belief and confidence in himself, talk about who he is and what he can do is so great, it’s so strong. That’s exactly how you need to be for this position.”

Young, who was the No. 1 overall pick last season, had a challenging rookie year, completing nearly 60 percent of his passes while throwing for 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with a 73.7 passer rating and 2-14 record. The struggles led to the Panthers hiring Canales who was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season. Canales helped the Buccaneers win the NFC South and reach the divisional round of the playoffs. He also helped quarterback Baker Mayfield be named to his first Pro Bowl.

Dave Canales on what Bryce Young can improve on in 2024

Earlier this year, Canales revealed some of the things Young can improve on heading into the 2024 season. “I just see a really accurate player, a real decisive player,” he said about the Alabama Crimson Tide alum, per ESPN.

“For him, some of the basic things, that for any quarterback improvement is footwork. Let’s continue to grow more specific to the pass concept, more specific to who is this person running this route? Three different receivers run the same route, it could be three different things. That’s a coaching thing. Maximizing some of his abilities are going to help that.”

The Panthers open the preseason on Thursday when they take on the New England Patriots in a road contest. Their first regular season game will be on Sunday, Sept. 8 when they travel to New Orleans to face the Saints.

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