There’s A Lot To Like About New Bucs OC Dave Canales

Sometimes, the good things in life take time. The Bucs are hoping that’s the case with the hiring of new offensive coordinator Dave Canales, who spent the last 13 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

Tampa Bay interviewed a total of 10 candidates, including Canales, to replace Byron Leftwich, who was fired on Jan. 19. The Bucs were interested in Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken and Cincinnati Bengals quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher, but both turned down the team for different opportunities. When head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht got around to interviewing Canales, who was the Seahawks’ quarterbacks coach, they were blown away with how intelligent he was, how effective he was as a communicator and with the work he did with Geno Smith last season.

There is a lot to like about the hiring of the 41-year old Dave Canales, who is a high-energy coach and has been described as a young Pete Carroll-type. It’s true he hasn’t called plays at any level, but any great offensive mind had to start calling plays at some point in time, whether it was Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan or Zac Taylor. That time is now for Canales, and the place is Tampa Bay.

Here are a few things that have the Bucs excited about having him as their new offensive coordinator.

Dave Canales Worked Wonders With Geno Smith

The 32-year old Smith was a journeyman when he landed in Seattle in 2019 to be Russell Wilson’s backup quarterback. Smith, who was a second-round pick of the New York Jets in 2013, signed with the cross-town Giants in 2017 after his Jets career flamed out. A year later, Smith was with the Chargers for a season before being recruited to Seattle to serve as the No. 2 QB.

When the Seahawks traded Wilson to Denver in 2022, Seattle shocked the NFL because the team didn’t pursue another free agent QB to replace him. Nor did the Seahawks draft a quarterback. Instead, they gambled that Canales had developed Smith into a starting-caliber QB, and they only traded for failed Broncos starter Drew Lock to be the backup.

Smith wound up passing for 4,282 yards with 30 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while leading Seattle to a 9-8 record and a Wild Card playoff berth. Smith’s 69.8% completion percentage was the highest in the league under Canales’ tutelage.

Not only did he make the Pro Bowl and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year, Smith also outperformed Wilson. In his first season with Denver, Wilson completed just 60.5% of his passes for 3,524 yards with 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as the Broncos finished with a disappointing 5-12 record. Wilson went just 4-11 as a starter.

Dave Canales Could Help Recruit Free Agent QBs

QB Baker Mayfield – Photo By: USA Today

The Bucs will be looking for a veteran free agent or two to pair with the unproven Kyle Trask, who is entering his third season in Tampa Bay. Lock, who served as Smith’s backup last year, will be a free agent and could be an option to come in and compete for a job with the Bucs. The 26-year-old has already spent a year working with Canales, and if the Bucs’ new play-caller likes what he saw from Lock, he could have Tampa Bay pursue the former second-round pick in free agency.

Smith is also a free agent in 2023, but he is expected to either re-sign with Seattle or be given the franchise tag. Plus, with the Bucs being saddled with Tom Brady’s $35 million dead money cap hit this year, Tampa Bay doesn’t have the cap room to sign a big-money quarterback like Smith will surely become in 2023.

With the Bucs possibly moving on from both Blaine Gabbert and Ryan Griffin, Tampa Bay will need to find multiple QBs to compete in training camp. With the Bucs looking to remain competitive in the NFC South, the team will want to pursue another veteran with more playing experience.

That could be a cheaper free agent QB like Jacoby Brissett or Baker Mayfield. Canales’ track record of success with both Wilson, who had some of his best years working with him, and Smith should help lure one of the those two – or perhaps Jimmy Garoppolo if his price is right.

Dave Canales Can Help Develop Kyle Trask

Bucs QB Kyle Trask – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs interviewed a slew of quarterbacks coaches and passing game coordinators during the past three weeks for their vacant offensive coordinator position. Canales was both in Seattle, first as a QBs coach from 2018-19, then as a passing game coordinator from 2020-21 and again as a QBs coach in 2022.

While not committed to Trask being the starter at any point in the 2023 season, Bowles and Licht would like to see what they have in the former second-round pick as he enters his third season in Tampa Bay. Trask was buried on the depth chart behind Brady and Gabbert the last two years and wasn’t really developed. Canales, who may wind up also serving as the team’s quarterbacks coach, will be charged with helping to develop Trask, who was the team’s third-stringer the last two seasons, and find out where his NFL ceiling is.

Canales will implement a quarterback-friendly system that will be easier to learn than Bruce Arians’ more complex passing game, which featured lots of choice/option routes. The offense is expected to be similar to that of Seahawks coordinator Shane Waldron, who came from the Rams and the Sean McVay tree.

Smith’s 69.8 completion percentage led the NFL last year and Wilson threw for 25 touchdowns and just six interceptions, which was the second-fewest of his career, in 14 games in 2021. Smith made the Pro Bowl last year and Wilson was a Pro Bowler in 2021.

Dave Canales Has Worked With Dynamic Wide Receivers

Bucs WRs Chris Godwin and Mike Evans – Photo by: USA Today

Canales, who was a wide receiver at Azusa Pacific, was the Seahawks’ receivers coach from 2010-17 under coordinators Jeremy Bates (2010), Darrell Bevell (2011-17) and Brian Schottenheimer (2019). And he was the team’s passing game coordinator from 2020-21 under Schottenheimer (2020) and Waldron (2021). Canales has experience coaching a trio of Seahawks Pro Bowlers in Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf, in addition to the likes of Golden Tate and Sydney Rice in Seattle.

So, coaching the likes of Pro Bowlers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin should be a seamless transition, in addition to developing young talent like Deven Thompkins and Kaylon Geiger. While Seattle ran the ball a good amount over the years, the Seahawks made sure Wilson had at least two stud receivers to throw to every season. Evans and Godwin certainly won’t be ignored in Canales’ new offense due to his roots at the position. They’ll continue to be featured.

Dave Canales Has Served Under Multiple Offensive Coordinators

One of the issues that might have negatively impacted Leftwich last year as the Bucs’ scoring plummeted from 30 points per game from 2020-21 to just 18.4 points per game in 2022 was the fact that he had tunnel vision on Arians’ scheme. In fact, that might have been one of the shortcomings of the Bucs’ offensive staff last year. And when the team didn’t have the talent for the offense to function at a high level within the Arians offense, there wasn’t anything to fall back on or pivot to from a creativity standpoint. As a result, the Bucs’ play-calling lacked imagination and became too predictable.

New Bucs OC Dave Canales – Photo by: USA Today

With Canales, his playbook will be a marriage of several different offensive systems that the Seahawks ran since his arrival in Seattle in 2010. Canales served under the likes of Bates (2010), Bevell (2011-17), Schottenheimer (2018-20) and Waldron (2021-22). There were years when the Seahawks were very run-heavy with Pro Bowler Marshawn Lynch, and years where they relied more on the arm of Wilson and receivers like Baldwin, Lockett and Metcalf.

With four different coordinators running different offenses with different points of emphasis, Canales has a wealth of experience to draw from. One thing is for sure, the Bucs will continue to be a pass-first offense with Evans and Godwin as the focal point, but Tampa Bay will strive to be more efficient running the ball with Canales. That’s what Canales was used to seeing in Seattle for over a dozen years.

And of course, being a Carroll protégé is also quite a big deal, too.

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