Panthers' Bryce Young and Dave Canales in a better place after some tense moments in 2024
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As he walked out to the football field at Johnson C. Smith University for his football camp on a sunny Saturday morning, Bryce Young spotted his head coach standing on the sideline.
Young dapped Dave Canales, and the Carolina Panthers quarterback and second-year coach talked for a few minutes before Young's introductory remarks to more than 300 campers. Canales wasn't the only member of the organization who showed up to support Young. However, Canales' presence was significant, coming nine months after he made the difficult decision to bench Young following a tough two-game start to the 2024 season.
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'It's about this love and respect factor, that we've grown with each other through hard times,' Canales said. 'Bryce, during the season, showed me his leadership. Showed me that even when we were a struggling team, even when I took him out, he stayed in the center of it. And he continued to lead. And for him to have the respect to say, 'Look, I don't agree with your decision, Coach.' But working together to continue to grow this thing means so much.'
Returning to the lineup after Andy Dalton injured his thumb in a car accident, Young ended the season on an upswing. Playing with confidence, Young looked much closer to the Heisman Trophy winner whom the Panthers drafted first overall in 2023 than the inconsistent, uncertain QB from his rookie season and early last year.
Not sure if I've ever seen a head coach come out for a player's camp.Different vibe around the Panthers this year. pic.twitter.com/v5z8OVoYcJ
— Joe Person (@josephperson) June 7, 2025
Despite Young's resurgence, Canales initially refrained from naming him the full-time starter. He didn't want to disrespect Dalton or put undue pressure on Young, who eventually left Canales no choice. After Young's virtuoso, five-touchdown performance in a 44-38 season-ending win at Atlanta, Canales said the Panthers had their 'guy' at quarterback.
That declaration — along with taking another first-round receiver in the draft — put Young in a comfortable spot heading into his third season. But Young doesn't want to get too comfortable.
'I appreciate the support. I'm grateful for the staff and for the team, obviously, just believing in me and us going (forward) together. We all have the goal to win,' Young said during an interview before his camp.
'So it's good, and now it's on us to put the work in in the offseason. Make sure we're going the right direction, working on things, getting to where we need to be for the start of the year. After minicamp, it'll be on us individually to make sure we're right, and then go into training camp and into the season.'
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Young will go into the season knowing he now has the backing of a coach who sat him down after just two games — lopsided losses to the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers in which Young threw three interceptions and no touchdowns and finished with two of the worst passer ratings of his career (the 32.8 rating versus the Saints is his lowest).
Canales, the longtime Seattle Seahawks assistant who had served as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator for one year, had been hired in part because of his role in reviving the careers of quarterbacks Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield.
But he also had the team to think about, and risked losing the locker room if he stuck with a struggling QB. So Canales made the switch before a Week 3 trip to Las Vegas, knowing it would leave a mark on Young and damage their relationship.
'I struggled with that a lot because you see historically what can happen when you have a quarterback (who) comes in and you go through some challenges. Some guys don't have the resilience to be able to battle through the emotional strain, as well as the football strain combined,' Canales said Saturday.
'I was nervous about that and I struggled with that. That decision was not taken lightly. That risk brought out the best in Bryce.'
Trade speculation immediately followed the benching, although Canales said at the time the Panthers were not considering moving Young.
The benching did not sit well with Young or anyone in his camp. But Canales praised his handling of the situation.
'During that time while we were still kind of repairing our relationship, we made it about football because that's what we could control today,' Canales said. 'How can we grow our processes? How can we have conversations about what we're doing offensively? And then just attack the football part. To have that part, that commonality, that mutual respect, I was impressed with how he kept coming back to work and just attacking it.'
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In addition to Canales, three of Young's teammates came to the camp: receiver Xavier Legette and offensive linemen Taylor Moton and Austin Corbett. Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, special teams coordinator Tracy Smith, assistant coach Daren Bates and game management coordinator George Li also were there.
Team photo. pic.twitter.com/6zCCwCsFV3
— Joe Person (@josephperson) June 7, 2025
Canales brought two of his daughters, Beatrice and Amaya, who wore headbands and football gloves. Craig Young, Bryce's father, appreciated that Canales didn't just make a token appearance but engaged with campers while watching the drills.
Craig Young also praised how general manager Dan Morgan has continued to add pieces around Bryce, whose lobbying efforts had at least some role in the team's decision to take Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan over a defensive player with the eighth pick.
'I'm super excited with the job that the staff — and specifically coach Canales and Dan — are doing with surrounding him with great weapons, with a great scheme, great protection,' Craig Young said. 'I just feel like he has a level of comfort now. And with most things, when there's familiarity and comfort — and then you're building off of previous success — that's usually a recipe for growth.'
For the second consecutive year, Young's camp featured a unique mental health component. Halfway through the morning, campers gathered around Young, his parents, his aunt, a counselor and a therapist who led everyone through a series of breathing exercises. Craig Young, a marriage and family therapist, had earlier spoken with parents about youth mental health, the focus of the Young 9 Foundation, which the quarterback leads.
'It's our second (camp) in Charlotte. It means a lot,' he said. 'We just want it to be a day for the kids to have fun, enjoy themselves with football but also be able to have conversations about mental health. … To have some tools that can help them, whether it be in sports or in life.'
Young interacted with the campers, who ranged in age from 6 to 14. He handed the ball off at a running back station, threw short passes during a receiving drill and dapped and spoke to the young players throughout the day.
It was a fun, relaxed vibe, not unlike what seems to be surrounding the organization with Young entering Year 3 as the clear starter after some tense moments between the coach and quarterback last year.
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'All that weight is just gone. We saw it at the end of the year when Bryce was just being Bryce. … He just gets to go be that without thinking about it. To have that just gone makes him play at an extremely high level effortlessly,' said Corbett, the veteran center.
'It's a testament to Dave being able to do his job, put aside the personal side and understand there is gonna be that little fracture going through that relationship. But it's the ability to mend it, and a genuine, authentic love for the game, love for Bryce as a person that allows that move to be (made) and come back strong.'
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