Exciting Update: Bucs’ offensive specialist is hired by the Panthers to serve as coach….

The Carolina Panthers have agreed to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales as their new head coach, according to two people familiar with the situation.

Canales will be the seventh head coach since owner David Tepper took over as owner in 2018. He inherits a Panthers team that went 2-15 last season and does not have a first-round draft pick in 2024.

He will be the third minority hire during this coaching cycle, joining Jerod Mayo in New England and Antonio Pierce in Las Vegas, bringing the NFL total to eight along with Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Houston’s DeMeco Ryans, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles, Miami’s Mike McDaniel and the New York Jets’ Robert Saleh.

The hire caps a meteoric rise for the 42-year-old Canales, who was working as the Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach in 2022.

He spent 13 seasons in Seattle where he worked with Dan Morgan, who was recently hired as the Panthers general manager and president of football operations. Morgan replaced General Manager Scott Fitterer, who was fired after the season.

Canales helped the Bucs reach the NFC divisional playoffs with Baker Mayfield at quarterback in his first and only season as an NFL offensive coordinator.

Canales’ development of Mayfield may have left a lasing impression on Tepper. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick had struggled last season with the Panthers and was released late in the 2022 season.

Mayfield completed 64.3% of his passes for 4,044 yards with 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this season for the Bucs, who went 9-8 and won the NFC South in the final week of the regular season. Mayfield played well in the postseason as well as the Bucs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9 before losing last week to the Detroit Lions 31-23.

The big question might be how much patience Tepper will have with Canales.

The Panthers fired Frank Reich just 11 games into his first season as head coach this season after giving him a four-year contract. Tepper, who is 31-68 since taking over, hasn’t shown much patience with head coaches, also having fired Ron Rivera and Matt Rhule during the middle of previous seasons.