Channel 9’s DaShawn Brown spoke to Canales about the offseason and the next steps for the team after their first appearance since 2017. You can find their conversation below: DaShawn Brown: Now that you do have an identity… It feels like that’s resonating throughout the building. You know who you are as an organization...what is the key to consistency?Dave Canales: You can’t just show up and go to the coaches’ meeting and practice on the field and think you’re going to be excellent.

That’s the bare minimum. Staff included. I know how hard it was the first year to win five games, and I was so proud. I know how hard it was to win eight last year, and I’m so proud of the work that went into it and now as we are starting to assemble this team and we have emerging young talent in a really solid group of veterans, to be able to take the next step for our team is going to require even more.

If that’s possible. We’re gonna find it.DB: During the off-season one of the huge newsmakers was the fact that you were handing over the reigns of playcalling. And you mentioned yes to be a part of the whole Moore but to spend more time with Bryce.

In what way?DC: I really want to be able to give him everything that I have to offer him, and I believe that allowing Brad to really be focused on the full call sheet and how it gets rolled out in a game and I can be more connected with Bryce at this point where... I love where he is; I love the mastery that he’s showing with what we’re doing… And it’s the same thing we just talked about. But now there are the finer parts of playing the position.

DB: Dan said recently, especially during free agency, speaking with guys who were coming in. There was a different vibe; guys were excited about being a part of what is being built here. DC: I’m really proud of that.

I’m really proud; collectively, this is the locker room. This is the coaching staff… the training room, strength and conditioning, you name it. All across our building.

And even with our draft prep, we had some players come in for our 30 visits and to hear the buzz of, “Oh yeah, we saw the playoff game...” They’re watching. And they’re paying attention to what’s happening here.DB: Even given the success. This organization is incrementally building.

You don’t necessarily view it as building on last year this team being a new organism. Can you explain what you mean by that?DC: I learned this from Pete Caroll, and he asked us not to assume our players are the same ever. We have guys going through a number of different things.

We have a number of players who are engaged; we have a number of players who have lost somebody really important in our live. Some guys just got paid. Some guys are about to.

This changes you. All these dynamics really change who we are and how we view what we do here, so our goal is to try to discover who’s this 2026 Panthers team is. As quickly as possible.

The only way you can do that is spending time with your players, getting involved in their lives. What did you think about last year. What have you been working on the last couple of months?

Where do you want to get better? And then collectively, guys, where do we want to go this year?>> You can watch the full interview in the video at the top of the page.