The Carolina Panthers have agreed to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales as their new head coach, according to multiple sources.
Canales has informed the Buccaneers that he is taking the job, although details still need to be finalized before the move is formally announced.
Canales becomes the seventh head coach since owner David Tepper took over in 2018. He inherits a Panthers team that went 2-15 last season and does not have a first-round draft pick in 2024.
The move leaves three teams still searching for a head coach: the Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders.
The appointment marks a rapid rise for the 42-year-old Canales, who served as the quarterbacks coach of the Seattle Seahawks in 2022.
He spent 13 seasons in Seattle, working with Dan Morgan, who was recently hired as the Panthers’ general manager and president of football operations. Morgan replaced general manager Scott Fitterer, who was fired after the season.
Canales broke into the league in 2010 as the Seahawks wide receivers coach, where he spent eight seasons, helping the team win a Super Bowl in the 2013 season. He spent three more seasons as the team’s quarterbacks coach, along with Russell Wilson, and two seasons as a passing game coordinator before landing the Buccaneers job last year.
Canales helped the Bucs reach the NFC divisional playoffs with Baker Mayfield at quarterback in his first and only season as the NFL offensive coordinator.
Canales will be charged with developing quarterback Bryce Young, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft who struggled as a rookie. Young went 2-14 as a starter and averaged less than 180 yards passing per game and had just 11 touchdown passes to go along with 10 interceptions.
Canales’ development of Mayfield may have left a lasting impression on Tepper. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick had struggled with the Panthers last season and was released late in the 2022 season.
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But under Canales, he revived his career in Tampa. Mayfield completed 64.3% of his passes for 4,044 yards with 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season for the Bucs, who went 9-8 and won the NFC South in the final week of the regular season. Mayfield also played well in the postseason, as the Bucs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9 before losing 31-23 to the Detroit Lions last week.
Mayfield completed 62.3% of his passes in the postseason for 686 yards with six TD passes and two interceptions.
The big question might be how much patience Tepper will have with Canales.
The Panthers fired Frank Reich just 11 games into his first season as head coach this season after signing him to a four-year contract. Tepper, who has gone 31-68 since taking over, hasn’t shown much patience with head coaches after also firing Ron Rivera and Matt Rhule midway through previous seasons.