New Carolina Coach Dave Canales May Want To Send His Mug Shot To Draft Picks

First rule of becoming a new head coach in the NFL, particularly when you are only 42 and have just one season as an offensive coordinator in the league?

Make sure your new players know who you are.

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales, hired last January at 42 following one season as Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator, may need to FaceTime the players he selects in the NFL Draft that begins tonight (8 p.m., ABC, ESPN, NFL Network).

Carolina head coach Dave Canales cheers on his players while offensive coordinator at Tampa Bay before the 2023 season. (Getty Images)

The Panthers don't have a first round pick. That went in a trade to Chicago last year, so they could get the first pick of the 2023 draft and land Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. But Canales will need to get his face around over the weekend as Carolina has two second round picks and a third round pick on Friday and a fourth, two in the fifth and a seventh round selection on Saturday.

When Canales and other staff had dinner last month with newly acquired wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who came over in a trade with Pittsburgh, Johnson thought Canales was his new team's offensive coordinator.

"At first, I didn't know he was the head coach when I went out to dinner with him," Johnson said Tuesday following a volunteer workout with the Panthers. "Because of the way he was talking and the energy he brings."

The Panthers gave up cornerback Donte Jackson and a sixth round pick in this draft for Johnson and a seventh round pick on Saturday.

Canales picked a first round restaurant for Johnson - Steak 48 in Charlotte.

Then-Pittsburgh wide receiver Diontae Johnson celebrates a touchdown catch against Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 16, 2023, in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Getty Images)

"After the dinner, somebody told me he was the head coach," Johnson said. "I was like, ‘Oh.’ I was so surprised. But other than that, I love his energy. So, I'm excited to play for him."

Young needs some help after a terrible rookie season for the first overall pick of 2023. He finished ranked 29th out of 30 quarterbacks in the NFL with enough statistics to qualify in QBR for a 33.4 rating. San Francisco's Brock Purdy - a seventh round pick in 2022 - finished No. 1 at 73.0.

A third round pick in 2019 out of Toledo, Johnson averaged 83 catches a season over the previous four with the Steelers. He caught just 51 last season for 717 yards, though.

Dave Canales Did Enjoy His Phantom Dinner, Though

"I did not know, but we were having such a good time," Canales said Wednesday of his phantom dinner. "Steak 48, I mean, some fantastic food. He's probably looking at this guy and saying, ‘He’s young. He's asking a lot of questions, talking a lot about how we're going to use him in the offense.' So he was probably thinking, ‘This is the offensive coordinator.’ I think his agent could've have helped him a little bit, maybe send him a snapshot or something on his phone, like, by the way, ‘This is Coach Canales.’"

Or perhaps you could have introduced yourself, right?

"I did not know that until yesterday when he said it," Canales said.

Prior to his only OC job at Tampa Bay, Canales was an assistant at Seattle from 2010 through 2022, coaching wide receivers from 2010-17, quarterbacks in 2018, ‘19 and ’22 and working as pass game coordinator in 2020 and '21.

"Pretty funny in hindsight," Canales said. "But that's not the only time that's happened."