CHARLOTTE — As Dave Canales stood on the corner of the Panthers practice field Friday afternoon, ready to recap the first day of rookie minicamp, over 40 guys continued to mill about behind him. Some, like Tetairoa McMillan and Trevor Etienne, were taking punts; Jimmy Horn Jr. grabbed a couple of other receivers to work on the jugs machine, the big men took a quick break in the cooling trailer, and others stayed behind with position coaches for any morsel of information that could prove important.

"It's a really big weekend for us," said Canales after practice.

"This weekend is about introducing them to the workflow, the field expectation—we're on the grass—the tempo that we use, the energy that we go about our work, and then, you know, certainly in the classroom, just getting used to the learning style of the player, but also the coaches and the format of the meetings and how they're laid out."

The practice on Friday wasn't long, just a little over an hour, but it was enough to introduce some guys to the southern heat.

"It's humid out here, so it's not like Arizona is, dry heat," joked McMillan. "It's humid, so I've got to get used to that for sure."

There were some tangible takeaways other than the heat, though, so with that in mind, here are three takeaways from Friday's practice and press conferences.

First Impressions of TMac

All eight draft picks, 19 UDFAs, and 14 tryout players were on the field. But of course, as the first-round draft pick—and a Top 10 pick at that—most eyes were on Tetairoa McMillan. The No. 8 overall pick spent the early portion of practice during special teams drills, working directly with receivers coach Rob Moore.

The two walked through the same route over and over, discussing each facet of making the catch, from hand fighting, when and where to cut the eyes, hand placement for the catch, and turning away from the defender; coach and player dissected how to win the play.

"Shoot, I mean, it's incredible, you know, even though I was fortunate enough to get drafted in the first round, I was a high-level talent in college, but even the best in the world need to get coaching," admitted McMillan after the practice of the one-on-one work.

"This is what's really going to turn me—I feel like Coach Morris is going to really turn me from good to great. So being able to just be around him as much as possible, you know, being able to hear from him, listen, and just gain as much wisdom and knowledge that he has for the game for me, it's going to only elevate me."

Canales was a little bit of everywhere on Friday, working with each group when he could. While watching McMillan up close and from afar, he noticed the manifestation of everything they'd seen on tape and hoped for in their receiver.

"He looks smooth, easy to throw to, just like we thought, and you know, just taking him through the individual drills," noted Canales. "I got a chance to kind of bop around between offense and defense, but in the little bit that I saw—I'll go back and watch a little bit more—but the little bit that I saw with the individual drills, you can see where the route craft and just a guy that works on his craft comes in and ready to go. So really excited about it."

Building that team chemistry

The first weekend in the league for rookies can be overwhelming. There's a new playbook, new teammates, new hash marks on the field, even new directions to follow in the cafeteria. As McMillan pointed out, the key is to lean on those who have the answers.

"I think I do a good job of not going crazy, and you know, I got a lot of resources, a lot of people, a lot of mentors to help me just guide me through that, and I kind of lean on the people that's been through what I haven't been through, you know, the vets, the coaches. Just gaining any knowledge and wisdom I can from them is only going to keep me sane."

A good team is predicated on chemistry. When you put 40 new faces into a locker room together, with plans to merge half of them with an active roster in a week, there can be some struggles in quickly establishing those bonds, so anything that can be done to facilitate that team-building chemistry is key.

Which is why once practice was over on Friday, Canales pulled the group together and had them line up in front of a quarterback throwing net. It's typically used to work on accuracy drills, but this week, in both voluntary workouts and now rookie minicamp, the Panthers have been using it to create competition.

"Offense won 1 to -2," Canales revealed of Friday's results. "You get a minus point if you can entirely miss this 15 ft screen. So we had a couple of those."

The offense eked out the win thanks to tight end Mitchell Evans, who played quarterback in high school.

"(He) made the only one of the whole group," laughed Canales. "But yeah, we're excited about Mitch; he's a fantastic athlete.

The plan after Jadeveon Clowney

While the Panthers welcomed rookie edge rushers Nic Scourton (Rd. 2, No. 51) and Princely Umanmielen (Rd. 3, No. 77) this weekend, the club also said goodbye to veteran Jadeveon Clowney and second-year outside linebacker Kenny Dyson. Multiple reasons factored into both, Canales explained, but the Panthers are looking towards the future.

"I really appreciate JD, I mean, certainly when you watch the 2024 film, you know, a guy that just gave us everything that he had on the field and so we really appreciate that," said Canales.

"And there was a lot of things from from a general cap standpoint and things going forward, and about opportunity. We're developmentally minded and understand—we bring two outside linebackers and two edge rushers in, and all those reps are valuable. We felt like this is a time to just make sure that those guys are getting the volume of the reps and the learning that's going on."