What you need to know from Joe Brady’s first news conference as Panthers OC

“How y’all doing? I’m Joe Brady.”

After weeks of hearing about the Panthers’ new offensive coordinator and seeing the lethal offense he was able to help put together at LSU, Brady officially introduced himself to the media Friday afternoon.

Brady, 30, and the Panthers agreed to a contract Tuesday, as reported by The Observer, a day after he helped lead LSU to a College Football Playoff national championship win over Clemson and then was officially announced by the team Thursday morning. The next day he spoke to the media and, after introducing himself, described how the past few days have been quite the whirlwind.

“It’s been an incredible week, you coach in this profession, you work so hard to see it rewarded with a national championship,” Brady said. “It was an incredible opportunity. I didn’t think of another job, never thought of another job. After the national championship this opportunity afforded itself, and I was excited about it and next thing you know I’m on a plane and I’m in Charlotte.”

A few takeaways from his first news conference.

On quarterback Cam Newton: In Charlotte the big questions are all about the future of Newton. But as expected, right now there aren’t many answers. Brady didn’t offer much on the subject, saying he just hasn’t had time yet to study the roster and get to know the personnel.

“I haven’t even had an opportunity to check out the film, especially being at the college level for this past season,” Brady said. “I’m excited to get in contact with Cam, with Kyle (Allen), with Will (Grier) and I know we have a great group of guys right now.”

Why the Panthers? There’s been a lot of talk about the young coach over the past month and his offensive mind. As the Tigers’ passing game coordinator, he helped LSU quarterback Joe Burrow have one of the best seasons in college football history, setting many records and winning awards along the way. That’s part of what got him hired in Carolina. But what made him want to come to Charlotte?

“I believe in coach (Matt) Rhule. To me the NFL is the pinnacle,” Brady said. “I enjoyed my time in the NFL (Brady worked as a Saints offensive assistant from 2017-18), and I’ve always wanted to be a part of it. ... Having the opportunity to work for Coach Rhule, understanding the culture that he brings, I know we talked about the process, and I’m excited to share the vision and work for him. We’ve got an incredible group of guys here that we’re getting to coach with and play, so I’m excited to work with him when it comes to that.”

Brady’s age and his experience level: Brady is coming off one season at LSU following his time with the Saints. There’s a lot of questions being thrown around about his lack of experience — this is the first time he’s been an offensive coordinator — but there are far more about his age. At 30 years old, he is the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL. Brady’s father is younger than the team’s previous offensive coordinator Norv Turner (67). He’s five months younger than Newton.

But you won’t hear him talking about the big 3-0.

“If there’s one thing I’ve never done, I’ve never thought about my age or talked about my age,” Brady said. “You’ll never hear me talk about my age. I don’t believe that your age determines how good of a coach you are. I feel like the players that I’m going to work for and work with and the coaching staff, they’re going to see my approach, my work ethic, they’re going to see how I’m willing to do whatever I can to win and we’re going to, as an offensive staff, we’re going to do what we can to put our players in the best position to have success. Regardless of my age, regardless of my experience, if they understand that I think they’re going to want to play for me and respect me and we’re going to be able to have success.”

While being an offensive coordinator may be brand new for him, drawing up football plays and coming up with ideas is anything but. Being interested in football was something that came early to him.

“My dad was a coach growing up and when you have some time in elementary school you’re probably drawing up plays and then it becomes real when you go to college (at William & Mary) and you realize that you’re not a very good football player and you realize you’re probably not going to play in the NFL, so let’s try to make coaching your career,” Brady said. “When I was in college, I started having ideas and then you become a coach and you start seeing what’s working, when you’re a defensive assistant (at William & Mary), what’s giving you issues from a defensive perspective and then you kind of expand upon that, when you’re a GA (at Penn State).

“(Then it becomes) I want the opportunity to call plays and I might start putting together a playbook. You always got to prepare for the next opportunity, since an early age, I always was a fan of calling plays (and) drawing plays.”

What will the offense look like? As far as what the Panthers offense may look like in 2020, Brady said he is very open to whatever works and doesn’t have one offensive system in mind. Just because LSU’s offense worked well this past year, with a mix of college and NFL concepts, that doesn’t mean the Panthers will necessarily be running a similar scheme. Instead, his priority is making sure the system works best for the players who are in it.

“It’s hard to label an offense anymore these days. You talk about a West Coast system, you talk about a spread system, everybody has kind of put their own stamp on who they are and what they are,” Brady said. “Our system is going to be what our players do best. I think that’s going to be year to year. I think that’s going to be based upon what you have. It’s all about a vision you have for your players. Each person on the roster on your offense, you should have a vision for and they all have to play a role. When you can find guys that fit the vision and understand their role, that’s when you have success.”

As far as the coaching staff that accompanies the system, Brady said that there aren’t specific skill sets or qualities that they are looking for. The team is interviewing coaches with significant NFL experience, but that isn’t something that Brady said he is necessarily focusing on.

“We’re looking for a bunch of guys who are going to do whatever it takes to win,” Brady said. “We’re looking for guys who are not necessarily ... they don’t sit here and say, ‘This is the only way.’ I think it’s important to collectively come up with a system. This isn’t Joe Brady’s system, this isn’t my system, this is going to be our system and this is something that’s important for everyone on the staff to understand.

“... It doesn’t matter the experience, the levels or the time. I think if you can bring value to our room and you can bring value to the staff and this team, regardless of your experience and where it is, I think there’s merit to that. I’m excited about the staff that we’re going to put together here.”

This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 6:27 PM.