Panthers aren’t worried about surrounding Bryce Young in draft, want to build best team

Bryce Young needs help on offense. But his bosses are less concerned about building up his supporting cast and more focused on creating the best team possible this offseason.

Speaking to local media on Thursday, Panthers head coach Dave Canales and GM Dan Morgan offered a peek into their strategy for next week’s NFL Draft. During the discussion, Canales stayed on-brand with his offseason messaging from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando by acknowledging that Carolina’s plans aren’t just about the team’s second-year quarterback.

“For me, it’s not about surrounding Bryce with great players — it’s about building a great team,” Canales said. “That’s my goal. That’s my heart for this whole thing. I want him to be able to go in and just do his part. One of 11. If he can just do his part, you look at the great teams he was a part of at Alabama, he won a lot of games when they had a good offense, good defense.

“He did his part, played big in big moments, and I would love to recreate that here.”

Young and the Panthers’ offense struggled mightily under the previous regime last season. The Carolina offense finished last in scoring offense and passing production in 2023. Young also took 62 sacks, with the Panthers’ offensive line giving up the second-highest sack total in the league.

Many analysts attributed Young’s poor debut season to his supporting cast. And while the team has upgraded his protection with free-agent guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis and his weapon arsenal with wideout Diontae Johnson, the offensive depth chart is still seen as a sore thumb by most onlookers.

Still, Canales and Morgan know they need to play the long game with their roster, and that means building a team that can compete on both sides of the ball in the long term. Once they build out a better overall crew, the theory is that Young will thrive within the situation, just like he did as Heisman trophy-winner at Alabama.

“It’s not about getting playmakers for Bryce, it’s about getting playmakers for our team,” Morgan said. “For our organization. Who’s best going to fit our team? Who’s going to make plays? Who’s gonna take the ball away on the defensive side of the ball? Who’s going to put the ball in the end zone on the offensive side of the ball?”

The mindset at No. 33

The Panthers own two top-40 picks in next weekend’s draft. Carolina will be at the top of the second round with the No. 33 pick and will select again at No. 39. Both picks have value at the top of the Day 2 board, especially with roughly 23 hours of intermission between the first and second rounds.

Naturally, the Panthers expect their phones to ring about those picks on both Thursday and Friday. The Panthers brass could trade up if a top talent falls within in range of a palatable move up the board. They could also stay put and wait for big offers following the first round.

“I think sitting at 33, you got 32 (picks) ahead of you, so we really gotta see how it plays out,” Morgan said. “I’m not going to box myself in to any, like, ‘Hey we’re not going to do this, we’re not going to do that.’ Ideally, though, if we’re sitting there and there’s a really good player, we’ll take him. Trading up, those are discussions that we still have to have.

“Everything is still on the table right now,” he said. “I don’t want to box us in.”

Finding the ‘Panther fit’

Morgan and Canales issued opening statements acknowledging the hard work of their respective staffs. When the coaching staff was completed earlier in the offseason, the Panthers decision-makers had the scouting department and the coaching staff meet to discuss their philosophies.

Canales and his offensive coaches detailed what they were looking for in various positions, while Ejiro Evero and his returning defensive staff reiterated their needs and wants on their depth chart. The process allowed the scouting department the opportunity to understand what they should looking for on the scouting trail.

Morgan thanked the scouting staff for their sacrifices of being on the road constantly. Canales pointed out that it was important that his coaching staff respected and appreciated the roles the scouts play in the roster-building process.

Ultimately, both sides were able to figure out what a “Panther fit” could be, according to Canales.

“As we worked through free agency, we got out of the other side of it with this great feeling, like, ‘This takes some pressure of of, ‘Gosh, we gotta meet all these needs through the draft.’ You know, now, we just have to really just hone in and focus on the guys that are really ‘Panther fit.’ I’ve heard that a lot in our building.”

Patience for Panthers?

Last offseason, the Panthers didn’t want to settle at quarterback. That’s why the previous brass traded up to select Young with the No. 1 overall pick.

This offseason, the situation is radically different, as the Panthers have their presumed franchise quarterback and no first-round pick to spend. With the majority of the league’s teams picking in front of them — some of them picking multiple times ahead of the Panthers — Morgan and the front office will need show restraint with their board.

Morgan said this outlook is something the team wants to get used to. If the Panthers become a winning operation, they’ll need to be adaptable to picking late in the first round — of fitting scheme to talent and not the other way around.

“I feel great about playing football right now with the group that we have,” Canales said. “I know that there are guys that are going to be able to help us, that can really challenge our play, elevate our play. This makes us all better.

“You bring in fresh blood, a rookie who’s excited to go at whatever position. It just turns on the whole room; everyone sits up a little bit straighter, you start to feel a little more agile, and you start to dial in your notes a little bit more. It’s part of the competitive nature of this team. And I think we should still target playmakers at every position skill-wise on the offensive side.”

Austin Corbett at center, and challenging the roster

Canales has been consistent about his approach to roster-building from the coaching perspective. He wants to constantly churn the roster through competition.

Essentially, Canales doesn’t want anyone to become complacent. When asked about Austin Corbett’s impending move to center, Canales acknowledged that the brass would be open to drafting a center to challenge him in training camp because of Canales’ desire to push his depth chart.

“My approach, our approach, is really: How can you challenge this roster every year?” Canales said when asked about Corbett. “So if it’s free agency or the draft, let’s attack all of our spots because we don’t want any of our players to be complacent and just be sitting there and be like, ‘Hey I got this.’ No, we’re growing. But that’s another position right there where I think this is a great opportunity for Corbs.

“I think for him, the way that he’s wired, the person, it’s a great opportunity for him. And if somebody falls to us who can challenge that position at that spot, then we got to take a serious look at it. And that goes across the board.”

Stephon Gilmore update

During his introductory press conference with the Panthers, pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney made it clear that he wanted fellow Rock Hill, S.C. native and former South Carolina Gamecocks teammate Stephon Gilmore to join him in Carolina. Gilmore, who previously played for the Panthers in 2021, is still on Morgan’s radar.

While the front office wants to get through the draft before spending additional funds on veteran free agents, Morgan admitted that Gilmore’s return is still a possibility for Carolina.

“We’re going to leave the door open there,” Morgan said. “We’re still going to stay in communication. And after the draft, we’ll circle back and kind of see where it goes from there.”

Quick hits

▪ Canales was asked about how he weighs certain quarterback metrics, specifically the S2 cognitive test, which was a media-mongering data point that differentiated Bryce Young and CJ Stroud ahead of last year’s draft. His response: “I think it’s all important” — with the caveat that film on a player is what he “always goes back to.” This might rear its head in the Panthers’ Day 3 draft picks, with Canales and Morgan opting for a player they love on film that perhaps might fall through the cracks because of measurables, Pro Day stats, etc.

▪ Immediate needs typically trump long-term planning in today’s NFL, and that’s particularly true with the Panthers, who haven’t had a winning season since 2017. However, Morgan made it clear that succession planning is central to his roster-building philosophy on Thursday: “That’s stuff that we definitely talk about. Myself, (EVP of football operations) Brandt (Tilis) and Dave — we sit there and talk about the roster not just now, in the short-term view, but we’re going to look at it in the long-term view as well.”