How Dave Canales got best out of Baker Mayfield

It's widely assumed that one reason the Carolina Panthers hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers OC Dave Canales as their head coach is because Canales' previous work with shorter quarterbacks suggests he can help Bryce Young bounce back from a rough rookie campaign. 

Current Tampa Bay backup signal-caller John Wolford recently spoke with Joseph Person of The Athletic about all that Canales did right with Buccaneers QB1 Baker Mayfield en route to Mayfield becoming a Comeback Player of the Year candidate.  

"It’s a good scheme that has a high probability of success, that has answers," Wolford said about Canales' offense. "And he tailored it to what Baker did well. Part of being a good coach is (not), 'Oh, this is my scheme and we run my scheme.' The good coaches go, 'OK, what do our guys do well and how can we fit the scheme to what they do well? Make sure we call the plays that they like.'" 

Canales indicated during his introductory Carolina news conference he will embrace an offensive scheme that becomes "what Bryce is good at in the pass game." 

According to ESPN stats, Mayfield finished his lone regular season playing under Canales ranked 12th in the NFL with a 94.6 passer rating, seventh with 28 passing touchdowns and ninth with 4,044 passing yards. Mayfield then guided Tampa Bay to a 32-9 wild-card playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles and later flirted with an upset victory at the Detroit Lions the following weekend. 

Mayfield almost certainly will either sign a multi-year contract with the Buccaneers or have his rights for 2024 retained via the franchise tag this offseason. 

"You’re not going to be anxious playing for Dave Canales," Wolford added. "If you rip a pick or rip three picks, he’s just gonna be like, 'Hey, what’d you see? How can we fix it? Move on.' And he’s never going to MF you or anything like that. I think that’s just who he is. The quarterback position is very hard in the NFL. And having someone like that in your corner...seems to have a positive impact."

If Canales doesn't have "a positive impact" on Young by Christmas 2024, the Panthers could spend next winter looking for an upgrade at the sport's most important position.