CHARLOTTE — Dave Canales hopped over to the two balls before anyone else could get close and whipped out a piece of paper to measure. Over 40 rookies anxiously and excitedly gathered round the head coach, leaning in to point, arguing their case for which ball was placed closer to the line, and attempting to move the piece for their team with non-existence telekinesis.

The Carolina Panthers had wrapped up their second day of rookie minicamp, and just like he did on Friday, Canales put an exclamation mark on the practice with a competition period.

Following Friday's practice, the offense and defense split into teams and tried—tried being the keyword—to hit the nets on a quarterback accuracy drill. All the team learned from that, Canales joked, was, "None of our guys can throw."

Only one quarterback took part in rookie minicamp, so the lack of throwing ability stands to reason. As a result, the group played what Canales called "get like me" on Saturday, a football spin on curling that measures who can roll a ball closest to the goal line.

"Just trying to get these guys going and get them in the competitive spirit," Canales explained.

It was a final touch on a weekend that may not have the most intense practices but introduces a new crop of players to future teammates, coaches, and opportunities.

"It's all about just getting to know each other," Canales said, "getting to know for the staff or the personnel department because they may not make our 90-man roster right now, but things happen in camp, and we have a list of guys that have a little bit of familiarity to see how we do things so that when they come and show up to practice they know what to expect at a minimum.

"So it's about exposure for these guys, it's about a football life, and the more chances they can get in front of coaching staffs and all that, the better chance they have of getting opportunities to be able to show everybody what they can do."

The Lone Quarterback

The Panthers came out of the 2024 season with a quarterback in place, Bryce Young. The former No. 1 overall pick put together a second half of the season that made waves and set franchise records, setting Carolina up for the foreseeable future. The club also returned Andy Dalton, who stepped into the starting job for five games last season.

The Panthers didn't need to load up the roster with quarterbacks out of this year's draft-eligible class, and as such, there was only one passer on the roster for the weekend: former UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers.

The California native went 9-9 as a starter with the Bruins and threw for 2,757 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2024 with a 64.7 completion percentage.

As the only QB at minicamp, he's received all of the reps.

"He was great and looks like he could throw all day," bragged Canales. "Really fluid thrower, good athlete too, you know, just even kind of reflecting back on some of the plays he made with his legs, those are the things we're looking for."

The Panthers do have a third quarterback on the roster, Jack Plummer, who arrived as a UDFA last season, and it isn't uncommon to have four through training camp. To Canales' point about making connections for the future, though, Garbers's ability to connect with a new crop of receivers in two days (save UDFA tight end Bryce Pierre, who played with Garbers at UCLA) has impressed coaches.

Said Canales, "For him to be able to come out here with a bunch of guys he's never thrown with before, except for Bryce Pierre, but you know, to just be able to handle that load, handle the alerts—we threw a lot of tempo stuff at him and at the rest of the group—to kind of test their study habits and all that, he did a great job."

Fitzgerald and the kicking competition

There will be a kicking competition for the Panthers this summer. One participant, Matthew Wright, is a four-year veteran who joined the club in February. This is his third stint with Carolina. The other, Ryan Fitzgerald, arrived in Charlotte this week as an undrafted free agent out of FSU.

Fitzgerald spent five seasons with the Seminoles and was perfect on extra points the last two seasons while going 32-34 on field goals during that time, including 5-5 on kicks 50-plus yards last year alone. The production caught the Panthers eye.

"First of all, accuracy," Canales said Saturday of what stood out about Fitzgerald. "But then there's a lot of power in his leg; the ball jumps off his foot.

"When we're evaluating the kickers, you know, just looking for the guys that have a process, and he certainly has a plan, certainly has a process, and so (special teams coordinator Tracy Smith) Tracy's had great, great reports from just being around him for a couple of days."

That kicking competition won't wait until training camp either, Canales shared. The team is prepared to begin now, using OTAs to make any determinations.

"I mean, we'll start kicking now, and we'll give those guys opportunities," said Canales. "And we'll give those guys opportunities and, you know, places I've been in the past, in Tampa and in Seattle, you know, there was fun things at the end of practice, and it's like, all right, let's put the guys up, let's get the team around them and just create a comp a competitive moment."

The next year for Jonathon Brooks

Earlier this week, the Panthers placed running back Jonathon Brooks on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. Brooks tore his ACL in Week 14 of last season, the injury coming on the same ACL tear Brooks suffered while in college. Placing Brooks on PUP at this point of the offseason means Brooks is guaranteed to miss the 2025 season.

"It really just allows him to focus on what he's working on," Canales explained, "which is full health, strength, best shape of his life to give him the best chance so when he comes back to us that he's running on all cylinders, that he doesn't have to think about it and think he could just play football and enjoy it again. And that's really what this is about. It's about him just being able to have a clear focus on what the goal is.

"It was a hard decision because you think about Jonathan—and he would be the first one to tell you if he's up here—he's like, 'If I could come back and help, I want to come and help. I want to be a part of our success. I want to be a part of building this team.' That's where his heart is.

"But at the same time, he does understand when you have these two injuries back to back like this; he's got to make sure that he attacks his rehab properly and that he gets the full strength, and so that's all of our goals together."