BREAKING: Bucs Hire Dave Canales To Be OC

After a very thorough and lengthy search, the Bucs have found their man in new offensive coordinator Dave Canales. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported it first Wednesday night and Pewter Report has confirmed the news.

The #Buccaneers are hiring #Seahawks QB coach Dave Canales as their new offensive coordinator, sources say. After 13 seasons as an assistant on Pete Carroll’s coaching staff, Canales heads to Tampa to run the offense for Todd Bowles.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 16, 2023

Canales has spent almost the entirety of his coaching career in Seattle working with Pete Carroll. The soon-to-be 42-year-old Canales spent his first eight seasons with the Seahawks as their wide receivers coach before moving to quarterbacks coach for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He became the passing game coordinator for the following two seasons, including the 2020 season which was the height of the “Let Russ Cook” phenomenon surrounding former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.

In 2022 Canales moved back to quarterbacks coach and helped Geno Smith revive his stalled career and turn into a top-10 quarterback in the NFL, as well as a Pro Bowler.

Dave Canales Joins Bucs With Impressive Resume

New Bucs OC Dave Canales – Photo by: USA Today

Dave Canales has worked under a variety of offensive coordinators during his time in Seattle, which gives him a wide breadth of experience in various different offenses. He spent eight seasons under Darrell Bevell, who came from the Andy Reid coaching tree (by way of Brad Childress). Then, Canales was able to spend three seasons with Brian Schottenheimer before working with Shane Waldron, who came from the Sean McVay coaching tree, this past season.

After his initial move to quarterbacks coach in 2018, Canales oversaw three of Wilson’s four best seasons of his career, with Pro Football Focus grades of 86.9 in 2018, 91.1 in 2019 and 90.3 in 2020. This past season, Smith posted the ninth-best PFF grade in the league among quarterbacks with a 79.8 grade. He also tied Tom Brady for the second-most big-time throws in the league, finishing with 34.

Canales’ first order of business will surely be deciphering how he will want to handle the Bucs’ precarious quarterback situation. He surely proposed a plan Tampa Bay approved of during his interview for the position. Kyle Trask, a second-round pick in the 2021 Draft, is the only quarterback on the roster for 2023 right now.

The Bucs selected Canales after interviewing nine other candidates, including Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken, Cincinnati quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher and Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach Thomas Brown.

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