Dave Canales met with Panthers owner David Tepper, but won't share the details

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales says he met with his boss after getting beat by the New Orleans Saints.

Tim Weaver | Sep 12, 2024

Jan 7, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper before the game at Bank of America Stadium. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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Carolina Panthers

It takes time to build a winner in the NFL. Most organizations understand this and they're patient with new head coaches and young quarterbacks as they find their way. The Carolina Panthers are not one of them. Ever since David Tepper bought the team in July 2018 they've undergone a ton of turnover in the front office and on the field.

If you count the interim coaches, Dave Canales is the seventh head coach for the Panthers since Tepper took over, and Bryce Young is the 10th quarterback to start a game for the franchise. It's only been one game so far this season, but it's fair to wonder if Tepper is already thinking about scrapping the current regime and starting over again.

Yesterday Canales told reporters that he had a meeting with Tepper and his wife Nicole after Sunday's humiliating 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Canales kept the details to himself, though, per Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk.

Dave Canales on meeting with David Tepper

“These are people that I want to make proud of what we’re doing here and what we’re building,” Canales said. “So, it means a lot to me to make sure that I connect with him, to connect with Nicole, to be able to talk about just the state of our organization, just kind of following up on games. I look forward to that process. So we had some good times to connect after the game. Those are private conversations that I’ll keep to myself. But a lot of support.”

Canales deserves more time to develop Young, who seems to have a particularly difficult time facing the Saints, who have defended him better than any other team since he entered the league. It's probably a long shot to hope for an upset in the coming weeks, but at the very least Tepper will want to see some improvement over the next few games. If they continue to get blown out the way they were Week 1, then all bets are off.