Five things we learned about the Carolina Panthers’ offense from Joe Brady
The Panthers have invested heavily in the offense over the past few months.
After hiring first-time offensive coordinator Joe Brady, the team signed quarterback Teddy Bridgewater to a three-year, $63 million deal, added offensive talent in free agency, including wide receiver Robby Anderson, and made Christian McCaffrey the highest-paid running back in NFL history with a four-year, $64 million contract.
Everyone around the NFL is hoping that the time comes sooner rather than later for teams to be able to get on the field together with training camp now on the horizon for late July.
Brady, 30, has also turned to some of the positives that virtual learning has presented, including a better opportunity to focus on the details that the offense might not have otherwise been able to do.
“It’s kind of interesting, you get so used to this and this is how you do every meeting, and this is how you communicate with everybody, it’ll be a little strange when you see someone for the first time or you see one of the players, it’s like, do you introduce yourself, even though we’ve been talking for three, four months like this,” Brady said.
In his second press conference since being hired, the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL touched on a variety of topics. Here are some of the takeaways:
Teddy Bridgewater makes everybody better
During the 2018 season, Brady was in his second season as an offensive assistant with the Saints when the Jets traded Bridgewater to New Orleans.
The pair built a relationship over that time with Brady helping him adjust to New Orleans’ offense.
“(Brady) was the guy that actually taught me everything when I first got to New Orleans,” Bridgewater said in March. “Joe was a guy who worked with me after practice, in the pregame, he was the guy who took me through drills, we went on the call sheet together and he just stayed active with me.”
Brady agreed, sharing that the time he spent with Bridgewater in New Orleans helped him improve as well and to really understand Bridgewater.
“It gave me an opportunity to take some extra time with Teddy to go through stuff with him and be able to teach. For myself as a coach, that was a huge development for me, but also it gave me the opportunity to learn Teddy, understand how he thinks,” Brady said.
The offensive coordinator said that the virtual offseason program has only helped the quarterback shine in his first real starting opportunity since his devastating non-contact injury just prior to the 2016 season.
“(Bridgewater) makes everybody better. He lights up the room, he’s intelligent, his football IQ is through the roof,” Brady said. “We had a day where we had Teddy run the meetings. I think that’s critical, having a guy that understands a good amount of the system and what we’re doing, but also has an idea of football and being able to explain it and teach it to others. And I think from a quarterback standpoint, we’re able to to install a play (and) you’re able to communicate terminology even if it’s different than you’ve done in the past.
“It just shows you how valuable you are, so working with Teddy again, it’s been great. I had a great relationship with him in New Orleans, and we are very fortunate to have him on our football team.”
Mentality on first season as OC
Brady has a big challenge ahead in his first season as an offensive coordinator taking over the Panthers offense. That could be intimidating for the many first-time NFL coaches on the Panthers’ staff. But the team is taking a bit of a different approach.
“Coach (Matt Rhule) uses the term ‘humble confidence,’ and I think that was critical for me. You’re humble enough to prepare, but you’re confident enough to perform,” Brady said. “I’m one of those guys that sometimes people might think I don’t have any emotion. You know from that standpoint on game day, I’m very even keel and I think that that’s a huge advantage come game time.
“I’m a competitor. I don’t just coach just because I feel like this is what I have to do, I coach because I love the juices of game day and the elements and you live for the red zones, the third downs, the two-minute situations and so from a pressure element standpoint, that’s something I never think about. I just know at the beginning of the week that it’s going to take a lot of preparation that’s going to take place, so that when the game day comes, you know I feel confident in our team’s ability to have success.”
Panthers’ weapons
Brady shared his thoughts on many of the team’s skill-position players. He said he is especially excited to see Curtis Samuel, who has a big season ahead as he is in the final year of his rookie deal, once the team can get on the field. Robby Anderson and DJ Moore are two players who Brady thinks have all the potential for big seasons.
On Moore: “DJ is a dynamic wide receiver and, DJ was one of the first men I met when I got this job. He had the opportunity to come by and I told him that, ‘Look, I’m excited to see this year for him, to establish himself.’ ... I have high expectations for DJ and the type of football player he is and he’s shown that on the football field, so it’s not one of those things of potential. I’m excited to see him develop, and I’m excited to take his game to the next level.”
On Anderson: “I’m from South Florida, I’ve known the type of football player that Robby Anderson has been for a long time. ... The biggest thing that people forget, he’s not just a speed-by receiver, Robby has incredible hands. He’s able to make big plays on the ball, go up for the football; he’s dynamic with the ball in his hands.”
On Samuel: “Curtis is going to be critical to success. I say that, I wish I could have had an opportunity to be out at practices and whatnot, and Curtis is the one that I can’t wait to see him do what he does on the field. Curtis is a playmaker. He fits the mold of what we’re looking for in this type of offense, a guy that you can utilize all around the field and get the ball in the hands and good things happen. I think you saw stuff last year that shows that he can be a big-play wide receiver, down the field. We’re getting the ball in space and I’m excited for him to take the next leap. And I know that he wants that.”
Coaching tidbits
On coaching in the press box vs. the field “That’s something we’ve had discussions about. I’ve always been in the box. I’ve enjoyed being in the box. I always feel like the game slows down in the box, but that’s something where I’ve talked with Coach Rhule, and we’ll discuss as the time comes. I do have a comfort level of being around the guys and the feel and the emotion of being on the field. So that might be something come preseason time that we might do. Say, two games up, two games down. But that’s not something that I’m very concerned about.”
On his goals for the offense: “Yeah, To be honest with you, at the end of the season I want our players to say they played their best football with us. ... I have high expectations of myself, but to sit there and say I have a benchmark or I have an expectation, or my goal. So, if our players at the end of the year say that they played their best football under us, I think we did our job.”
