CHARLOTTE — Dave Canales knows what people are tuning in to see when they watch the Panthers now.

"We're a fun team to watch," the head coach grinned on Monday while discussing the details of the Panthers upcoming 2026 schedule.

The full slate of games and details was released last week, and Carolina ended up with three prime time games, a stark uptick from the one on the schedule last season and none in Canales' first season in 2024. Ahead of that first year, the coach said he knew the Panthers had to earn those opportunities.

After winning the NFC South for the first time in a decade, finding themselves in multiple close games down the stretch, and featuring a quarterback in Bryce Young who has shown a flair for the dramatic (the second-most most game-winning drives for any passer under the age of 25 in NFL history, along with the most game winning drives in the entire NFL since he entered the league in 2023) the Panthers became a team to watch.

The club responded by signing a free agent and draft classes that both received some of the highest marks league-wide.

Now, they're rewarded with three prime time opportunities: Week 4 at home versus the Lions (Sunday Night Football), Week 8 at Green Bay (Thursday Night Football), and Week 12 at Tampa Bay (Monday Night Football).

"For me, it's just about opportunity and improving our football, guys playing with that energy," said Canales. "Last year, a couple of games that no one really gave us a shot at, we're able to play competitive football and win some of those. And there were also games that got away from us," he continued, referring to the Panthers' overall 8-9 schedule in 2025, and tendency to oscillate between a win and a loss week-to-week.

"But the overall general improvement from our group, watching our players emerge and really step into their own and really bring that type of environment, especially, just being around town and just hearing the outpouring from our fan base here, and just how excited they are for the season. So there's a building excitement for me as the head coach.

"The prime time games, championship moments, truly, championship opportunities against great opponents. We got to have that. It brings out the best in us. It calls upon our best on a weekly basis."

There are tangible benefits to additional prime time games, beyond the national exposure, according to Canales. For a team looking to make it back to the playoffs for the second year in a row and set a new standard, those prime time chances—often in standalone windows and the cause of a different weekly cadence—force teams to become comfortable with change.

It's the kind of lesson that pays dividends come postseason.

"I just get excited about the prime time games because, as we all know, as you get playoff opportunities, these are night games," explained Canales.

"Sometimes they're just standalone games, and the way that they stagger them, it helps us to be able to practice and be able to play in different environments, play at night on prime time games in odd windows, and sometimes it's a Saturday game or a Sunday, and all that just prepares you for the postseason and for those opportunities.

"So I'm excited to have that and play some excellent teams that we respect."

Home Sweet Home

The Panthers will finish out the 2026 regular season with four of their five games in the friendly confines of Bank of America Stadium. Two of those four are division games, and a third is a rematch with conference foe, the Seattle Seahawks.

"That was something I saw right away and was very appreciative of that going into the finish of the season," said Canales of the home stretch (pun intended).

"Being able to be at home, in front of our crowd at Bank of America Stadium, the energy that was building towards the end of last season, it just excites me to be able to see that through the holiday season,"

The Panthers' home crowd surged late last season, creating a raucous atmosphere for the final stretch of games, particularly the wild-card matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. The atmosphere has been a point of pride for Canales and general manager Dan Morgan this offseason, as they challenge fans to recreate it this coming season. Four home games in the final five weeks, in what the Panthers hope will be yet another playoff push, is a good chance to do so.

"In that time, you have an opportunity to be at home and finish on your own terms, on your own turf," said Canales. "So that was a pretty exciting thing for me."

The Week 17 matchup will be against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks. That was a game the Panthers hosted in the same spot last season. It was a 3-3 tie at halftime before the game unraveled in the second half. Getting an opportunity to host them again the same week feels serendipitous for Carolina.

"Very interesting, right?" admitted Canales. "Just the same exact week, same time of year, bringing them back out here to Charlotte. We can't wait for those opportunities.

"Another great team, another championship opportunity that'll bring out the best in us, and I love that. I love being able to finish the end of the season with an outside division opponent, a conference opponent that is obviously the Super Bowl champions, and highly regarded and respected.

"But we got a lot of football to play until that game. And so we'll see where we're at going into that one, and that goes for both teams."

Carolina will also start the season at home, something the club hasn't done since 2022. That conference matchup against the Chicago Bears will allow the Panthers and the fanbase to continue what was built last season, said Canales.

"It's been a couple of years, but right off the bat, get in front of our fan base and really pick up where we left off in terms of where they were showing up with such great energy, coming out early, being out there during warm-ups, and welcoming the players that came out group by group.

"To feel that energy kind of build into the game, the guys will be really excited to get that started the right way."

Fewer air miles, fewer problems

The Panthers will travel the fewest air miles of any NFL team this year, clocking in at 8,740 total miles traveled during the regular season slate. They are one of only two teams, the Browns being the other, who will travel less than 10,000 miles.

"Being in Charlotte, we're kind of central to the Northeast, the South, the East Coast, the Midwest, everything just kind of feels within range, that these are shorter trips," noted Canales. "So we'll try to take full advantage of that.

The 49ers (38,105) and the Rams (34,847) clock in with the most, thanks in part to a season opener in Australia. Even without that trip, though, both teams would still be near the top.

International trips bring the number of air miles up for most teams in the league, and clubs will travel an average of 19,713 miles this season. That means Carolina, which does not play an international game this year, is still 10,973 miles below the league average.

This means less recovery, more meeting time, and more rest, said Canales, all of which can be a benefit throughout a long season.

"Recovery, minimizing the time you're spending on planes; flying does do a little bit of something to your body," continued Canales. "It's been something that we've had to find ways to recover in that process, and wearing compression sleeves and doing recovery in the hotels.

"It certainly can be an advantage to be able to get a little bit back in the tank, get to your hotel sooner, settle in, go through your meetings, go through your body care and prep that happens the day before a game.

"So, it's something that we're certainly appreciative of…and I'm sure the guys will appreciate that, being able to get up and down and get right back to our recovery and our prep."

Of note, regarding air travel and the Panthers' schedule, Carolina will face the Eagles in Philadelphia in Week 6. The Panthers will be coming off a bye week, while the Eagles will be returning from a London game in Week 5.

Adding experience to coaching staff

Canales said Monday that he was bringing longtime assistant coach Carl "Tater" Smith onto the coaching staff to fill some of the role previously played by Jim Caldwell.

Smith, the father of Panthers special teams coach Tracy Smith, was the quarterbacks coach with the Seahawks when Canales started there on Pete Carroll's staff, among his many other stops in a coaching career that began in 1971.

"First of all, it just gives me an opportunity to talk about what an amazing support Jim was for those first two years," Canales said. "Having been a head coach, having been around coaches whom I really respect, and just remembering all the little things, building a training camp and the ebb and flow of the practices, duration, and how to challenge guys mid-season in different spots. With just all the things that as a first-time head coach while I had been with Pete for 14 years, it was just so good to be able to have somebody that I could call at any point who was fully invested in what we were doing, to help me address the team, add things to our practices that might help different things that we needed improvement on, just really practical wisdom, different ways, and someone who just I really grew to trust."

Canales described the elder Smith as "one of my primary football mentors."

Joint practices on the docket

After getting the preseason schedule, Canales said the team will hold joint practices at Jacksonville prior to the second game, and here with the Texans prior to the final preseason game here.

The Panthers have made a habit of those in recent years, both here and elsewhere (like last year's trip to Houston).

Canales said after not taking part in them in Seattle, he's come to enjoy the work.

"It's a controlled environment, and we're able to get high-intensity work, and we're able to manufacture different situations," he said. "With the preseason games, they're extremely valuable.

"Obviously, they're out there, the players are out there playing games, but you don't always get all the situations you may go through a preseason and not get any goal line work, where you can work some goal line in a controlled setting with that type of understanding and really get to evaluate your team that way."