New Panthers head coach Dave Canales is already filing away some receipts.
Canales, taking over a Carolina team that finished dead last in the NFL at 2-15 last season, took exception to a joke made by Keegan-Michael Key at the NFL Honors on Thursday night.
“My understanding is that Taylor Swift is in Tokyo right now,” the host joked. “The only people farther from the Super Bowl are the Carolina Panthers.”
Canales quoted the jab on X, adding a thinking face and a bookmark emoji, indicating he’ll be coming back around on it.
The former Buccaneers offensive coordinator will have his work cut out for him to sniff the Super Bowl any time soon.
Despite having the league’s worst record, the Panthers won’t have the top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft after having traded it to the Bears last year in order to snag QB Bryce Young, who struggled in his rookie season.
Canales will have to try and build an offense around Young, who showed flashes during the 2023 season, including a three-touchdown game against the eventual NFC runner-up Detroit Lions, beginning with the No. 33 pick in the second round.
The 42-year-old, hired on Jan. 25, is no stranger to overcoming obstacles.
He and wife Lizzy penned a faith-based book, “This Marriage? The Question That Changed Everything,” that revealed how he overcame infidelity, pornography addiction and binge drinking.
Canales also does have a Super Bowl on his resume, winning one with the Seahawks while serving as a quality control/assistant quarterbacks coach in 2013.
He’s far from being the first head coach to take receipts for his team.
In 2022, Jets head coach Robert Saleh said he was taking receipts from anyone who mocked them after their opening-week loss.
The Jets finished 7-10 and last place in the AFC East.