Dave Canales got off to a rough start to his coaching career in the NFL, finishing 5-12 in his first season with the Carolina Panthers. On the other hand, he and his team routinely flashed throughout in 2024. For that reason, expectations have increased in Year 2. However, Canales is confident the Panthers will be up to the challenge, believing that no team will want to face them, and that includes the Jacksonville Jaguars, their opponent in the 2025 opener.
Following a practice in training camp, Canales told the local media that Carolina has improved enough that no team will want to face them. Here's what he had to say.
"I don't think people are going to want to play us by the style of football that we play," Canales said via the team's official website. "I'm expecting that. My expectations are really high for this group. They are every year, and we're going to shoot for as good as we can get. My language to the group is, I want to make sure we maximize the latent in this room. That'll take us as far as we need to go, but that's going to be our focus."
For the sake of transparency, Canales wasn't singling out Jacksonville, but he didn't make any exceptions, so the Jaguars are included in the group of people who won't want to play the Panthers.
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What should the Jaguars expect from Dave Canales and the Panthers?
All things considered, it's easy to understand Dave Canales' confidence in the Carolina Panthers. Then-sophomore quarterback Bryce Young got off to a slow start in 2024 but showed growth as the season progressed. He should continue to make strides in Year 3.
On top of that, the Panthers mostly got better roster-wise. Although they let pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney walk, they have enough pieces on both offense and defense to make you think that they could stun the Jacksonville Jaguars in the opener.
As of this writing, the Jags are a 2.5-point favorite for the Week 1 game. This means that this could turn out to be a close matchup even though it will be held at EverBank Stadium. Of course, Jacksonville has enough firepower to stymie the Panthers.
Back in the offseason, the team's brass added Travis Hunter and Dyami Brown to a wide receiver corps that already included budding star Brian Thomas Jr., who posted nearly 1,300 yards with 10 touchdowns last year. On top of that, the Jaguars beefed up the offensive line, so they'll now be able to protect Trevor Lawrence and open lanes in the running game.
On defense, Jacksonville also has enough talent to stop the Panthers cold, with players such as Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen ready to wreak havoc at the line of scrimmage.
Of course, it won't be a walk in the park, but the Jacksonville Jaguars can come out of the opener with their first win of the season. Maybe the Carolina Panthers are the ones that should be worried about having to face them. For the time being, it's fair to say that they gave their Week 1 opponent enough bulletin board material to keep them motivated.