What the Bucs get for new offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who spent the last 13 seasons on Pete Carroll’s Seahawks staff and helped transform Geno Smith into a Pro Bowl quarterback this past season?
“We created a culture to bring people together,” said Doug Baldwin, who worked with Canales for all eight of his seasons in Seattle from 2011-2018. “I certainly found it challenging when he left that, but Dave has had aspirations of being an offensive coordinator for a long time. This is his chance to do it and he has to take it. I’m happy for him, proud of him, and I know the people in Seattle are very happy for him because they know he has the ability to go there and do a great job.”
Canales, 41, landed the Bucs job on Wednesday night, a day after he was the 10th candidate to interview for the position. Head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht have extended their relationship, speaking to quite a few young coaches, many of whom – like Canales – have never been offensive coordinators or called up. the play before.
Canales takes on from Byron Leftwich, who was fired last month after a disappointing season as the Bucs fell from one of the NFL’s highest scoring fouls in 2020-21 to scoring less. nearly two touches per game by 2022. Three assistants have also been let go, so Canales will be able to help the Bucs hire new midfielders, run back and get a coach shortly.
Baldwin has watched Canales go from a low-level offensive assistant to his receiving coach and finally to quarterback coach and then to passing coordinator in Seattle. In the three years that Baldwin had Canales as his positional coach, he led the NFL in encounters with 15 in 2015, then won the Pro Bowl in each of the next two seasons.
“The thing about Dave, first and foremost, he’s a good human being,” Baldwin said. “He’s been through his trials and tribulations as a man through the coaching ranks, and one thing that stands out to me is that he’s learned his lessons and he he’s taking the lessons he learned as a young man and an adult, a father and a husband, and sharing those lessons with young men Why that matters, as you know in the NFL, when you’re building an offensive team or a team in general, there are a lot of different personalities and as a coach you have to be able to adapt to those personalities and be willing to do Working with those personalities to get the most out of them, and that’s what Dave is capable of doing. He has a charismatic personality, because he can talk to anyone.”
Watch this video clip of Canales at Seahawks training camp four years ago and you’ll see a constant stream of optimism surrounding him as he interacts with the players.
“It’s the energy in Seattle, the culture we built in Seattle, and he embodies it,” Baldwin said. “It’s high-intensity energy, high standards and also a lot of fun. You’ll go out and fight a daily battle in practice, but it’s going to be fun to do so with players that don’t have a lot of fun. you call you family Dave has always been at the heart of that, has always been a part of it, helped us create that culture. What you see is really him. He is passionate about coaching. train young players in the game of football.”
Canales got the job after a thorough 27-day search that included 10 applicants, some with multiple interviews. He hasn’t called the plays before as he would in Tampa, but Baldwin said for a number of years he was tasked with creating Seattle’s third or less package, and the offense achieved a the best number of successes in those packages. He’s worked under three different offensive coordinators in Seattle, learning from each as part of an offense that ranks in the top 10 for scoring eight times over the past 10 years. They have reached the knockout stages nine times in 11 years, with a score of 9-7, one of only two years they missed.
Todd Bowles personally knows this well. In four years running the Bucs defense, his team’s second-most points were 40 in a loss to Seattle in extra time in 2019, when Canales was the Seahawks coach in midfield. Russell Wilson threw five touchdowns that day – the most of any Bucs opponent in the last four years – along with 378 yards and no interceptions.
It’s easy to see that success coincide with having an elite quarterback at Wilson, but Canales found a way to achieve a similar yield this past season with Geno Smith in midfield. Smith made four touchdown passes in six years from 2015-20 before making three substitute appearances through injury in 2021. Starting last season, he made 30 touches and 4,282 yards, completing 69.8% of the league’s best passes. on the way to a Pro Bowl nod.
“Honestly, that doesn’t surprise me,” Baldwin said. “Someone like Geno being paired up like Dave Canales, I don’t want to say it’s a match, but those two together, it makes sense to me. I know Dave has an important role to play in this. his growth in helping him reach his full potential Dave has that ability There are people with all the talent and all the skills in the world but may not necessarily know how. put it all together Dave can show you the blueprint for how to do it He’s really good at it… He’s just a nice, solid and solid human being Tampa Bay Buccaneers lucky to have him.”
Greg Auman is the NFC South correspondent for FOX Sports, covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He’s in his 10th season joining full-time for the Bucs and NFL, having spent time with the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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