Panthers pick Buccaneers OC Canales as new coach
The Panthers agreed to hire Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales as their new head coach, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Canales has informed the Buccaneers he is taking the job, although there are still details that need to be finalized before the move is announced, according to the people who spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity.
Canales will be the seventh head coach since owner David Tepper took over as owner in 2018. He inherits a Panthers team that went 2-15 this past season and does not have a first-round draft pick in 2024.
Canales, who is Mexican-American, joins Ron Rivera as the second head coach of Latino descent hired by the Panthers.
He will be the third minority hire during this coaching cycle, joining Jerod Mayo in New England and Antonio Pierce in Las Vegas, bringing the NFL total to eight along with Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Houston’s DeMeco Ryans, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles, Miami’s Mike McDaniel, and the Jets’ Robert Saleh.
Three teams still have yet to hire a head coach: the Falcons, Seahawks and Commanders.
The hire caps a meteoric rise for the 42-yearold Canales, who was working as the Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach in 2022.
Finalists announced
Lamar Jackson, Christian McCaffrey, and Dak Prescott are finalists for the Associated Press 2023 NFL Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year awards.
The winners will be announced at NFL Honors Feb. 8. A nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen and 49ers QB Brock Purdy also are finalists for MVP. Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Cowboys wideout CeeDee Lamb are the other two finalists for Offensive Player of the Year.
The Browns have finalists in four categories: Myles Garrett for Defensive Player of the Year; Kevin Stefanski for Coach of the Year; Joe Flacco for Comeback Player of the Year; and Jim Schwartz for Assistant Coach of the Year.
The Texans have finalists for Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year. QB C.J. Stroud and edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., selected back-to-back with the second and third picks in the NFL Draft, are aiming to make it two straight years the winners are from the same team. Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson and cornerback Sauce Gardner won the awards in 2022.
Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons and cornerback DaRon Bland, Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby, and Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt join Garrett as finalists for Defensive Player of the Year.
Browns interviewing
The Browns are interviewing former Philadelphia offensive coordinator Brian Johnson to help bring out the best in quarterback Deshaun Watson, a person familiar with the team’s plans told the Associated Press.
Johnson, who was fired by Eagles coach Nick Sirianni Tuesday, has a meeting with the Browns to be their coordinator, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team is not announcing any moves until Stefanski fills out his staff.
Stefanski fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt last week as part of an offensive shakeup.
Irsay was found unresponsive
First responders arrived at the home of Colts owner Jim Irsay Dec. 8 after longtime team executive Pete Ward placed a 911 call, concerned that Irsay was suffering from congestive heart failure, The Indianapolis Star reported.
The newspaper obtained a recording of the 911 call from Hamilton County via a public records request.
“We have a gentleman who is unresponsive. He is breathing but is bluish in color and we believe that he may be having congestive heart failure,” Ward said in the call.
Ward also told the dispatcher that Irsay’s breathing was labored and that he was “mostly” unconscious. When Ward arrived, he said Irsay’s nurse said his oxygen level was low.
Police officers from Carmel, Ind., a northern suburb of Indianapolis, wrote they found the 64year-old Irsay unresponsive, breathing, and with a bluish skin tone, according to a police report.
One officer wrote in his report that Irsay “had fallen in the bathroom and was moved to his bed and was cool to the touch. Irsay had oxygen in his nose, was cool to the touch, and had agonal breathing.”
The police report said he was treated with Narcan, a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose, before medics arrived on the scene. Irsay was later transported to a hospital.
Irsay has a history of addiction to painkillers and has publicly addressed the problems he has faced, most recently in November when he told HBO Sports he had sought treatment at least 15 times.