Sources - Panthers to hire Buccaneers' Dave Canales as coach - ESPN

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers plan to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales as their new head coach, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

«It will get done,'' a source told Schefter on Thursday.

The length of Canales' contract and other details have not been worked out yet, a league source told ESPN.

Since David Tepper bought the Panthers in 2018, they are tied with the Jets for the worst record in the NFL (31-68). Canales will be their seventh head coach under Tepper, most of any team in that span.

The Panthers are hoping Canales, 42, can do for Bryce Young what he did for quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield.

Canales had his second interview with the Panthers on Wednesday in Charlotte, where he met with team owner David Tepper, new general manager Dan Morgan and others on the search committee.

Morgan spent eight years with Canales on the Seattle Seahawks' staff from 2010 to 2017 when Canales was the wide receivers coach. Familiarity with Morgan and being a disciple of former Seattle head coach Pete Carroll was a factor.

Canales started with Carroll as USC's strength and conditioning coach in 2009 and followed him to Seattle.

Canales was the passing game coordinator for the Seahawks in 2020 when Wilson set career highs with 40 touchdowns and a 68.8 completion percentage and also passed for 4,212 yards.

He was the quarterbacks coach for Seattle in 2022 when Smith passed for a career-high 4,282 yards and 30 touchdowns with a 69.8 completion percentage.

He was the offensive coordinator at Tampa Bay this past season when Mayfield, who spent the previous season with the Panthers, had a career-high 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns and 64.3 completion percentage.

Canales will