Dave Canales on rookie minicamp Day 2 takeaways | Carolina Panthers

0:00 All right, first of all, early happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.

0:04 Grateful, um, you know, a group of men doing what we get to do.

0:08 It's a great time for us to be able to celebrate

0:10 that and and be so thankful and grateful for all the hard work,

0:14 the love, support, the Gatorades, the cleats, all the things that come with it.

0:18 And so, happy Mother's Day there and we'll open up for questions.

0:22 Any takeaways specifically, Dave, about Monroe's 2 days here,

0:27 whether it's in a meeting or something he did out here?

0:30 I mean, first of all, he looks great.

0:32 He's been He's been working really hard

0:34 just just trying to continue to, you know,

0:37 increase his strength and do those things.

0:40 Showed up, I think he was, you know, about 325.

0:43 And looked great, moved well, showed the length and all the things.

0:46 And, you know, he's just got to get comfortable

0:48 with some of our schemes and concepts playing next

0:50 to a tight end who might be blocking front side

0:53 or going back side and settling into some of those things.

0:56 But, looks like a guy that really enjoys football.

0:58 Those are the types of guys that we'd love to have here.

1:00 325 is a little bigger than he played at, I think.

1:03 Was that something you guys talked about, maybe him getting a little bigger?

1:07 Not really.

1:07 That was just kind of an emphasis of his.

1:09 And I mean, if you think the guy's 21 years old, you know,

1:11 so he's still growing into whatever his frame is and I think he

1:16 played somewhere in the 310s-ish or something like that, 315 during the season.

1:20 But, as we know, seasons get long and guys have a chance to kind

1:23 of settle in and focus on some things and and the work showed up.

1:26 But, he he looks great, he's moving well.

1:27 So, really pleased with that.

1:28 Do you almost have to make an allowance for guys out here during

1:31 this camp because most of these dudes

1:33 have been in combine training or pre-draft, different kind of not football?

1:39 Absolutely.

1:40 That's something we have to be really aware

1:42 of as we come into these camps where, you know, the guys are working out,

1:46 they're they're practicing drills that they go

1:48 through at pro days or the combine.

1:50 And those drills are pretty set, you know,

1:52 but once you're starting to react to movement and you

1:54 get back to playing a little bit of football, Um,

1:56 that does work different parts of your body and so, you you know,

2:00 post-draft they really have 2 weeks,

2:01 some guys a week before they hit rookie mini camp.

2:04 We always do it on the second, uh, second weekend after the draft,

2:07 you know, to hopefully give those guys a chance to, you know,

2:10 get their cleats on and just kind

2:11 of settle into their normal type of football training.

2:14 Two days outside with Haynes King, what has stood out to you about him?

2:18 Yeah, um, you know, first of all, off the film,

2:20 the thing I was most excited about is

2:22 you just watch his offense move the chains.

2:25 Third and fourth down, 2-minute drill,

2:27 the ball goes down the field, they score points.

2:29 Um, and there's a bunch of ways you can

2:31 affect the game as a quarterback with your mind,

2:33 with your arm, and with your legs,

2:35 and he's got a way that he's able to find wins that way.

2:37 Uh, it was great to see him in person, um,

2:39 just, you know, work around, coming off play actions, um,

2:43 the boot legs, um, and then just certainly seeing the athleticism

2:46 that he has in his body show up through his arm.

2:48 A lot of zip, a lot of pop there, and and a guy that really was,

2:51 um, he did a great job in the classroom also,

2:53 just making sure like these camps only go

2:57 as well as a quarterback's ability to operate,

3:00 get them out of the out of the huddle, to the line of scrimmage with a cadence.

3:04 I think we might have had two pre-snap penalties in 2 days.

3:07 That's pretty rare for a rookie mini camp,

3:09 and so I got to attribute that attribute that to, uh,

3:12 Rashad and also to Haynes for operating that way.

3:14 And, um, Brad has spent a lot of time with the quarterbacks, particularly today.

3:19 Um, is that a function of him just calling the offense in rookie mini camp,

3:23 or is that, um, is there something more to that?

3:25 No, that's been something that Brad's been doing

3:27 for for the last couple of years since we've been

3:28 here is trying to make sure that he he's

3:31 got a lot of familiarity with the wide receiver play,

3:33 but getting into the quarterback room, um, especially now, you know,

3:36 calling plays and and being in in really in charge of the offense,

3:40 putting the implementation of it,

3:41 just to make sure that the language is on the same page,

3:43 and the intent of what we're trying to do is there,

3:45 but also just a growth opportunity for Brad to continue to press into, uh,

3:49 the training of a quarterback.

3:50 And, uh, that's something that I had great

3:52 mentors that taught me and something that I

3:54 I've loved to be able to have conversations

3:56 with for Brad to continue to, you know,

3:58 look at the whole group and be able to uh impact it that way.

4:01 We've heard you talk a lot about the the kind

4:03 of mental side of things for the center position.

4:06 What has uh what what's been your takeaway on Sam from that regard?

4:11 Yeah, Sam's handled this in stride.

4:13 Um he's done a great job in these last couple of days.

4:15 Excited to throw more on his plate as we

4:17 get back together with the full group, but um again,

4:19 what showed up for Sam is on film, you see a guy that's under control,

4:22 a guy that uh plays the center position really well.

4:26 Um you know, at a professional level even from his film last

4:29 year and that's what showed up in these last 2 days is,

4:31 you know, the his ability to stay calm,

4:33 make the point, work his combos with the guys,

4:36 um and just kind of bring that that type of balance

4:39 and cohesiveness that you need to have with the inside three.

4:42 Coach uh Chris Broussard uh um after the draft selection,

4:45 one of the talking heads um said it's a great pick but what if he holds it up?

4:50 Yeah, indicating that there's some kind of black cloud of potential there.

4:54 Um he comes from an athletic family.

4:56 I'm sorry, but there was a one arrest that he had uh regarding driver's license,

5:01 but other than that, I haven't heard anything else.

5:03 Chris has done a great job.

5:04 He's uh he loves playing, he loves working on his craft.

5:07 Um we that kind of emerged in the process as we were talking to him.

5:10 He's a guy that loves to get out there and work

5:12 his footwork and do different things and um you know,

5:15 I have a friend who actually coaches in the area

5:17 um that has had exposure with Chris before, you know,

5:20 and has worked with him on the field

5:21 and so um the whole process gave us confidence

5:24 in this guy um being able to just continue

5:26 to have the uh the foundation to build his skills,

5:29 to build all the the tools that he needs because he's really into it.

5:32 Um that's what we're mostly concerned with and and uh you know,

5:35 as far as like the last couple of days, he's done a great job pressing into it.

5:38 But as you can imagine, I think we talked about this yesterday,

5:41 you know, this is different, you know,

5:42 we have all these different splits and where or put guys in stacks

5:46 and um you are you inside or outside the numbers and all those things?

5:49 Those are going to be the things that Chris

5:50 is going to really need to dive into.

5:52 You do put a lot of emphasis on character.

5:55 Were there any questions with him that you wanted to have answered?

5:58 Not at all.

5:59 I think it was just a matter of us

6:00 getting to know the guy and and how he learns,

6:03 how he relates from a personal standpoint and we did the work.

6:06 You know, we we had him in the at the combine in the formal meetings.

6:10 We brought him in for a 30 visit.

6:11 We followed up with zooms just to check all those boxes of this is

6:15 a guy that we would love to work with because the football skills and you know,

6:19 the speed, the ability to track the ball down the field at his height

6:22 to be able to drop his weight getting in and out of breaks is rare.

6:25 And we were just really really excited that we were able

6:28 to just stay put where we were at and he came

6:30 to us in the third round and so excited for to see

6:33 what happens when he gets with the rest of the guys.

6:35 How important are reps like this for a guy like J'Shawn Reed and you know,

6:39 what have you what have you seen from the wide receiver?

6:41 J'Shawn's done a great job for us since we got him here.

6:44 Um you know, we have a little bit of a commonality.

6:47 He went to University of San Diego.

6:48 That was our opening day at Azusa Pacific way back when.

6:51 So but anyway, speaking to like what he's doing now,

6:54 getting to this camp to really show us what he

6:56 knows and also the training that he's gotten from Rob.

7:01 Um it really shows up and and when you

7:03 get a a new group of wide receivers out there,

7:05 it's good to have someone like J'Shawn out there with them where

7:07 they can kind of see this is how we want this route run.

7:10 This is how we want this drill done.

7:12 He did a great job these couple of days.

7:14 Coach Sorry, go ahead.

7:16 Hines is an older guy.

7:17 When you when you get a guy like that that's been in college for a while,

7:19 which has kind of become the norm the last couple years,

7:21 how much of a difference can you tell when

7:23 you get him out here for the first time?

7:25 There certainly is for the guys that we're seeing, you know,

7:27 24 and 25-year-olds coming out and there's a maturity to them.

7:31 There's a professionalism about how they handle their life

7:35 inside the building and outside of the building,

7:37 just kind of having their world in order.

7:39 Hines gives that feel, you know, like he's he's a pro, You know,

7:42 mentally speaking and now the challenge is how quickly can

7:45 we get him caught up in all of our schemes, concepts, protections,

7:48 all the different things at the line of scrimmage and and right

7:50 now he's pouring himself into it, doing a great job.

7:52 Dave, the nickel position seems like something

7:54 that you're very much open to competition with.

7:56 DeMarcco Smith has plenty of playing time at the college level.

8:00 I don't know if you've watched all the film from him yesterday,

8:02 but what what stood out to you about him?

8:05 Yeah, versatility.

8:06 Spent a lot of time in the slot playing the nickel,

8:08 but is a guy that can certainly play outside too, so it's a good group.

8:12 You know, Will Lee, the length, you see that too as well.

8:15 These guys are you know, that position right there,

8:18 we have Shaw coming back, we have Corey Thornton, who really, you know,

8:22 won the job during the season last year and got an opportunity till he got hurt.

8:25 So there's a great competition already happening.

8:27 We love to throw more more possible guys at each position.

8:31 Competition just breeds success, it breeds growth,

8:34 development and guys really start to push each other.

8:36 So I'm excited to to get those guys in the whole group.

8:39 Brad is getting like the sort of level of energy

8:41 that the other rest of the receivers are out there.

8:43 You know, how important is the matching

8:44 energy of the players out there as coaches?

8:46 Yeah, we set the tone.

8:47 You know, that's a reminder for us,

8:48 it's our sixth day in a row on the field and we got

8:51 to treat it like it's our first and bring that same intent intentionality,

8:55 the intensity to the individual drills and making

8:57 sure we're pushing these guys so they can

8:59 understand what the expectation is of how we

9:01 practice and so really critical that the players,

9:05 they got their own energy that they come

9:06 into with this excitement of this opportunity and the competition as coaches,

9:11 we have to just make sure that that stays

9:13 at a fever pitch so that we have great speed.

9:15 That's the best way you learn is is we can push

9:17 the guys and and also just to enjoy what we're doing.

9:19 You know, we get to come out here on the grass and coach football

9:21 one more day and that part I know the the players will look at us,

9:25 they see us excited about it, they'll they'll maintain that energy.

9:28 All right, thank you very much, coach.

9:29 All right, thank you.

9:32 [music] [music] Woo!