CHARLOTTE — This is a story about the 2025 Carolina Panthers. But the one person you won't hear from in it is Dave Canales.

And that's just the way Dave Canales wants it.

The second-year head coach had to implement his plan last year, and he told his guys that when it's working best, it's working from the ground up; that players are the ones doing the leading.

And this spring, here's what that looked like.

Chuba Hubbard wasn't just breaking down huddles to start practice; he was finding quiet moments with young players competing for jobs, offering words of encouragement on the job they did that day, along with being a constant presence around the facility.

Bryce Young and Jaycee Horn were jawing back and forth before most snaps, offering a little fire to their respective sides of the ball.

Derrick Brown might not have been doing every rep in practice, but he was a constant presence, from coaching up other players to having his own little back-and-forth with Ikem Ekwonu.

Adam Thielen was not only taking a couple of first-round wideouts under his wing; he also took them to Minnesota for a pre-camp retreat.

And then there was Robert Hunt, breaking up a minor altercation between teammates not by using his mass, but by shaking his mass and breaking the tension by dancing between two guys who couldn't keep a straight face after seeing Hunt bust a move.

That's what a player-driven team looks like.

"I mean it's like every offseason you get a new team, you've got to be able to figure it out," Brown said. "And that's what we've been working on this offseason."

For Brown and Hubbard and Horn and the guys in the middle of it, there's a recognition that they're making significant strides in that area as they prepare for the start of training camp this week.

"I've said it since last year, building a culture takes time, and we still have a lot of work to put in and a long way to go," Hubbard said. "But you know, last year laying the groundwork, paving the road, and putting a solid foundation down, and then now, yeah, we can build off that and grow from there.

"So yeah, you're definitely going to see guys be more comfortable, more vocal, but that just comes with chemistry and getting to know people and going through the fire and going through last year together. So it's just a better understanding of each other and what we're trying to build here."

It's also worth noting that most of those names up there, those are guys the Panthers have invested significantly in to be leaders around here. Hubbard got his extension in the middle of last season, a recognition of the work the former fourth-rounder has put in to be a main-line leader. Young was a No. 1 overall pick with all that entails. Horn and Brown got paid when the former first-rounders got their second contracts. Thielen got a bump to come back for another year. Hunt was brought in during free agency last year to not only stabilize the line, but to lend some personality to the place, and he's done so.

Having players lead those efforts is what Canales wanted all along, and what good teams build toward.

Veteran backup quarterback Andy Dalton has seen all the different ways to do it in the NFL, as he enters his 15th NFL season on his fifth different team, so he's seen transitions and building projects and every other permutation. But what he recognizes is that this way creates a broad-based buy-in that's helpful when you're trying to change things.

"You don't need a coach to say anything; it is coming straight from the players," Dalton said. "When you know things are going good, you keep it going good. When things are not up to the level of the standard, coaches aren't having to say anything. Already you have multiple players coming in and being like, all right, let's go, let's lock in. We've got to get back to where we're going.

"So I think when you have that and there's just a competition, the level that you're playing at and the level that you're willing to compete and practice and all that kind of stuff, that carries over to other guys when they see the top guys doing that. So I think that's when it comes to player-led, that's really what it's about."

For this kind of system to work, it has to start early.

Ekwonu said he could tell it was taking when he'd get to OTAs early in the spring and see large groups of players going through their pre-practice prep without having been instructed to do so.

"It starts with everybody taking their routine seriously, making sure they're fresh and ready to go, and at some point, especially when we start doing these drills over and over again, the coach gets to step back and just blow that whistle.

"You don't got to say too much about technique or anything like that, you know, guys kind of have that standard already set."

Ekwonu noted that as he's going into his fourth year, he wants to become one of those guys, the leaders who set examples. He has plenty of home-grown role models to look up to, from Brown and Horn and Hubbard, to guys who are newer here like Hunt and A'Shawn Robinson.

And those guys represent a broad spectrum of styles. So part of what Canales has done in allowing space for them to lead is giving them the room to grow into their roles.

Hubbard isn't a big talker. When he's breaking a huddle, you're more likely to hear a Ricky Bobby reference than a Knute Rockne speech. But he's also one of the hardest workers on the team, the guy who starred in the schedule release video as the guy who lived in the stadium, and the guy who has made supplemental work on the Jugs machine a thing around here. (It's worth noting that Xavier Legette has been adopted into that family, to the extent he'd be in the stadium on quiet Fridays when no one else was, that steady "thoop, ... thoop, ... thoop" of repetitive work making the summer days go by).

Hubbard admits something approaching unease at being deemed a leader, but he's become one whether he wants it or not because of the way he goes about his job.

"In all honesty, I'm going to be myself," Hubbard said. "I will say, obviously, having that trust and having that chemistry and understanding of one another, you know, coach Canales understands the type of player I am and the type of leader I am and how I move and act, and I understand how he is and what he's looking for. And honestly, I had to do a lot of self-reflecting and self-dialogue throughout this past season about how I viewed myself as a leader and just a person on and off the field. And he actually helped me see some things in a different light, so it's just good to have somebody that you can be with over a period of time rather than just someone new. You're able to build a chemistry that can't be done without time.

"I mean, outside the field, I'm quiet, reserved, to myself, but everyone knows on the field I'm the opposite. I'm loud, I'm rah-rah, and there's definitely time and places for things like that. There's times to be rah-rah. There's times to kind of sit back and wait and just watch, and there's times to kind of be the guy that's maybe a little more quiet, and understanding with some people there's just different levels to being a leader and different ways to go at it."

That's why Hubbard isn't a one-size-fits-all type. Mostly, he'd rather work and let that stand as his testimony. But as time has passed, he's grown into it. One day when it was Cade Mays' turn with the ones at center (he's competing for that spot with veteran Austin Corbett), Hubbard walked off the field with him after a segment and complimented him on his communication in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage. It was a small thing, but indicative of the way players are supporting each other and policing themselves.

Hubbard's not the only one, either.

The Horn-Young banter that was the soundtrack of the spring seems like the norm now, but Horn had to be convinced it was his place to take part in it. He came into a locker room full of talkers, from cornerback Donte Jackson to pass-rusher Brian Burns to linebacker Shaq Thompson, so he never considered it something he needed to do.

But he said Canales told him about the old days with the Seahawks, with Richard Sherman and the many stars on that defense, and how they set the tone.

"When he first got the job, he just talked to me a little bit about the Seahawks culture when he was there, and Sherm and all those guys, like the energy of practice went how it went," Horn said. "So, like, the good players just got to show up to practice, and players run the team. So they see me, see Chuba, they see DB practicing hard and doing the right things, then they pretty much don't have a choice but to fall in line.

"So really just about trying to lead everybody to do the right thing, do everything the right way, and change the culture here. So when people come in here, whoever it is, they just fall into what we're doing."

But again, that took time, and Horn had to get comfortable with his own voice to be able to take on a bigger role this offseason.

"It's just being more vocal to me, that's the main thing, because I always felt like being a leader is natural, like you, you got it or you don't," he said. "I feel like I've always been able to lead by just my attitude and how I attack the game, but I feel like now it's more so just trying, actively trying to bring guys along with you, and turning into one of the older guys. There's no more Shaq, Burns, or anybody like that. So, you know, that's me and DB and guys like that now."

It's become noticeable this spring that these guys are becoming the face of this team, to the point that newcomers are picking up quickly.

"When it's your peers holding you accountable, your teammates, it means more to you," free agent safety Tre'von Moehrig said. "Coming from those guys, you work with them, you sweat with them, you bleed with them, so coming from those guys, if they're coaching you up on something or trying to give you any tips, it's obviously pretty important."

The Panthers made a point to go get guys on defense from winning programs (free agents Tershawn Wharton, Bobby Brown III, and Christian Rozeboom came here with Super Bowl rings on their fingers), and they recognized it too.

"It's important to have people that want to do the hard things, that want to do the things to be a successful team, and I think we have that here," Rozeboom said earlier this offseason. "It starts with the leadership of captains and people who have been here. Then the new guys, I mean, just kind of seeing where you fit in, finding your role, and then helping in any way you can. I mean, I've only been here eight weeks, so it's been maybe a little bit hard for me to tell right away, but you can tell that they want to win and they'll do whatever it takes to win. They're competitive. They have drive, and they want to bring everybody else with them, so it's been cool to see that.

"They know what it's been here, and where they want to go, and are taking the steps to get to that spot."

Veteran wideout Hunter Renfrow compared Canales to his old Clemson coach Dabo Sweeney, not just from the overt positivity they exude, but in the way they trust their players to grow into their roles.

"He's very tuned into what guys do rather than trying to push them into some kind of mold that he wants," Renfrow said. "I'm big on that because I've been in some different places, and seen things, and guys have been successful doing it different ways. So you appreciate a guy that can come in and just empower players that way."

But once they take the field this week, those leaders on the field will take another step, to push the Panthers in a new direction.

Bobby Brown talked about a few examples, from Robinson being at the front of the line of every individual drill, to Derrick Brown calling together a dinner for defensive players, and the understanding that everyone was going to show up. That level of expectation is best set from the grass-roots level, rather than being preached from above.

And the fact that so many of those leaders carry the scars of some less-successful years here, and are determined to change the perception of this team from the inside out, lends a certain weight to what they're doing.

"We have guys that are making a ton of money," veteran special teamer Nick Scott said. "We've got guys that have been in this league a really long time that are not afraid to step up, to say something to make us do extra reps, to get extra work and stuff like that, and that that breeds success, that breeds a want-to in the team when your head guys, your top-paid guys are doing that."