INDIANAPOLIS — Combine week started off with a bang for the Carolina Panthers, with Dave Canales announcing he will be handing off offensive play-calling duties to coordinator Brad Idzik.
Canales’ reasons for making the switch were sound. But it was still surprising given that Canales had previously brushed aside questions about giving up play calling.
That might have been the biggest Panthers-related development in Indy, but it was far from the only one. Here’s what I heard about the Panthers after talking to various team officials, coaches and agents over four days at the combine:
• General manager Dan Morgan began his Tuesday news conference by congratulating Luke Kuechly on making the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That provided the perfect segue for a reporter to ask Morgan, a former Panthers linebacker, about addressing the position this offseason.
“In terms of free agency and the draft, that’s a position that we’ll try to attack. We’re looking for guys who are leaders, who are playmakers, who are culture-fits for us,” Morgan said. “So we’re excited about attacking that and putting the work in.”
In fact, several folks I spoke with expect the Panthers to be in attack mode along their entire front seven. Morgan has previously made it clear the team needs to beef up what’s been an anemic pass rush since he was promoted from assistant GM. But there’s also a clear need at off-ball linebacker, and at least one agent predicted the Panthers would sign a prominent linebacker in free agency.
It’s a good but not great group of free-agent linebackers, headlined by Devin Lloyd and Devin Bush. Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero likes to involve his linebackers in the pass rush, and two of the better blitzing LBs available are Kaden Elliss and the undersized Nakobe Dean, who had a career-high four sacks in 2025 despite missing seven games.
• Morgan needs to bring in another edge rusher to replace free-agent D.J. Wonnum, who never clicked in Carolina after returning from health complications that followed his quad surgery. Morgan directly answered a question in Indianapolis about Bradley Chubb, a pass rusher with ties to Evero who’s free to sign with any team after being cut by the Miami Dolphins.
“Still playing at a really good level. Has had a lot of sack production throughout his career,” Morgan said. “Just a really good player. And that’s something we’ll stay in and explore.”
I wouldn’t read too much into Morgan’s comments about Chubb, the fifth pick in 2018 who turns 30 this summer and is just two years removed from ACL surgery. Is Chubb a possibility for the Panthers? Sure. But the sense here is he’s not the top option.
• There was buzz in Indy that the Panthers and a bunch of other teams are interested in defensive linemen after watching what a dominant defensive front did for the Seattle Seahawks during their march to the Super Bowl.
The interior was a priority for Morgan last year, when he signed Tershawn Wharton and Bobby Brown III after missing out on Milton Williams, then drafted Cam Jackson in the fifth round. But as reported by The Athletic, the Panthers have given DL A’Shawn Robinson permission to seek a trade. If there are no trade partners, the Panthers plan to cut him in a move that will clear $10.5 million in salary-cap dollars — equaling where they currently sit in terms of cap space.
• The Panthers are also expected to move on from Andy Dalton, either via trade or a release. I can’t say I learned that at the combine; it has seemed inevitable since Morgan openly talked about bringing in another quarterback behind Bryce Young at Morgan’s season-ending media availability.
But I did get a better feel for who the Panthers are looking at for QB2. With Bryce Young entering his fourth season, any free-agent QB who views himself as a starter isn’t going to consider Carolina. So strike Malik Willis from the list.
Still, there are a handful of quarterbacks who are both younger and more mobile than the 38-year-old Dalton: Tyler Huntley, Trey Lance, Zach Wilson and Kenny Pickett. Tyrod Taylor, who was in the same 2011 draft class as Cam Newton and Dalton, is a veteran I think the Panthers would at least consider.
It’s unlikely that Andy Dalton will be Bryce Young’s backup in 2026. (Photo by Jordan Bank / Getty Images)
• In addition to the front seven and backup quarterback, the other spot the Panthers are spending a lot of time on is the offensive line. And for good reason. If Canales were to line up the offense for a practice tomorrow — which, for the record, league rules prohibit — he wouldn’t have anyone to play left tackle.
Morgan said Ikem Ekwonu is in good spirits after undergoing surgery in January on his patellar tendon, which he ruptured in the first quarter of the wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams. But neither Morgan nor Canales would specify a recovery timeline for Ekwonu, who likely will miss a significant chunk of the 2026 season.
“We’ll see how it progresses. We’ll see how it goes. But so far it’s looking good,” Morgan said. “In terms of it impacting the draft, free agency, offensive line is a position we’re always going to be looking at, always trying to upgrade and have as much depth as possible there.”
The Panthers invested heavily in the O-line two years ago by signing guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis to free-agent deals. But Morgan has yet to draft an offensive lineman. Based on my combine conversations, that’s going to change this year.
Morgan’s “best available” approach isn’t just GM-speak. That said, an offensive tackle is in play for the Panthers at No. 19, where Alabama’s mammoth OT Kadyn Proctor could be available.
Pairing a draft pick like Proctor with a free-agent swing tackle like Yosh Nijman allows the Panthers to fill Ekwonu’s spot in the short term while giving a rookie a chance to develop before eventually succeeding right tackle Taylor Moton or Ekwonu, depending on how “Ickey” looks post-surgery and whether the Panthers sign him beyond 2026.
• The Panthers also currently have a vacancy at center, with both Cade Mays and Austin Corbett hitting free agency. Corbett is not expected back, and Morgan said the Panthers will let all of their free agents test the market before deciding whether to re-sign those they’re interested in retaining.
Mays is someone the Panthers want to keep, but they could bow out of the bidding depending on what the Detroit Lions or another interested team is willing to spend on a 6-6, 325-pound center. If that happens, center becomes a legitimate target for the Panthers on the second day of the draft or early on the third. Some in the organization also think reserve center Nick Samac, a seventh-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2024, could be good if given a shot.
Cade Mays has started 20 of 25 games he’s played in at center the past two seasons with Carolina. (Bob Donnan / Imagn Images)
Quick-hitters from Indy:
• League insiders believe the only way Rico Dowdle returns to the Panthers is if his market craters. After back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons, Dowdle figures to find a team willing to pay him more than the Panthers would.
• Discussing Canales’ decision to cede the play calling to Idzik, one veteran coach said the move adds a layer of job protection for Canales if things go south and the Panthers fail to build on last season’s playoff appearance. While I don’t think that was Canales’ motivation, the coach who mentioned it isn’t wrong.
• Canales spoke about the role and impact that former Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will have as Carolina’s associate head coach/offensive specialist. The Panthers still haven’t officially announced Bevell because they’re waiting to see if Canales adds any other staffers. There’s a chance he could bring someone in on defense after 75-year-old Dom Capers, the first coach in franchise history, was hired by the Cleveland Browns.