Carolina Panthers great Greg Olsen on Dave Canales’ energy, coaching staff, future at FOX

Early Monday afternoon, about an hour after sports betting became legal in North Carolina, Carolina Panthers great Greg Olsen said he hadn’t yet placed any bets on how his former team would fare in 2024.

But one thing’s clear:

He likes new head coach Dave Canales.

“Listen, I trust Dave,” said Olsen, who visited the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Uptown Charlotte as part of an event to celebrate NASCAR’s partnership with DraftKings. “I think he’s got a lot of energy. I think Dave has an understanding, being around Pete Carroll and Seattle for pretty much his entire career obviously professionally, when he came from USC with Pete. ... He’s obviously been around winners. He’s been around what winning programs look like. And now it’s just a matter of putting those pieces together.”

Canales and Olsen — who spoke to reporters before the roster melee that was Monday for Panthers fans everywhere — didn’t have a ton of professional overlap during the tight end’s playing days. The three-time Pro Bowler spent his final NFL season with the Seattle Seahawks in 2020, a COVID-adjusted year that featured virtual position group meetings and a bunch of oddities that made it tougher for player-to-coach bonds to blossom.

But Olsen still has enough experience with Canales to draw from when evaluating if he and the coaching staff he assembled would be good in Carolina. Pat McPherson, the Panthers’ new tight ends coach, for instance, had the same role in Seattle while Olsen was there. Panthers passing game coordinator Nate Carroll intersected with Olsen as well.

Canales, who has a track record of rejuvenating quarterbacks, hasn’t been shy about why he’s building the coaching staff the way he is — with people he’s worked with before, with coaches who “speak his language,” as Canales explained to The Charlotte Observer a few weeks ago.

Olsen understands the appeal of having a coach build his coaching staff in his own image. But he also understands there’s a risk in doing that. Both of those instances have been on display for the Panthers in the past six years, and neither resulted in wins. The Panthers are tied with the New York Jets for worst record (31-68) since the 2018 season.

“I think every coach has their own approach,” Olsen said. “And I think there’s an argument to be made on both sides of that. I think you saw when Matt Rhule came, and it was really a lot of familiarity, and a lot of his guys that he brought from Baylor and Temple, we can make an argument whether that was right or wrong. And then on the flip side, with Frank (Reich), it kind of went to the complete opposite.

“I think, like any staff, there is a blend of: ‘You need some guys who have been through the fire with you.’ When things go bad, and you can sit in those meetings and draw back on shared past experiences, I think that’s good for problem solving. I think that’s good for being able to get yourself out of tough situations, or adapt, or whatever the case may be. But then on the flip side, you need to have some people challenge your way of thinking. I don’t think you can just have a room full of Yes Men, a room full of people who’ve only experienced what you’ve experienced, and they don’t bring any outside points of perspective or experience to the table.

He added: “So I think you have to be careful going to either extreme, and hopefully that’s the blend that Dave is able to find.”

Greg Olsen discusses his future with FOX, betting on sports in Carolina

▪ Beyond his answers about the Panthers, Olsen also discussed his future with FOX as the network’s lead NFL analyst with the impending arrival of retired quarterback Tom Brady. The seven-time Super Bowl winner signed a 10-year, $375 million contract to be the lead analyst for the FOX Sports team before he retired in 2023.

“We’re still working through all of that,” Olsen said. “Right now, I’m still under contract with FOX. So obviously that’s still on the table to go back and call games with FOX, albeit on a different crew, assuming that Tom, obviously, is going to come. We’ll sort that out through the rest of the offseason in the spring. Still under contract with them, still get to call some of the best games of the NFL slate. And obviously my goal is never going to change. I want to get back to calling Super Bowls and NFC championship games and the premier matchups of every week like I have done the last two years, and we’ll see what opportunities arise to try to make that a reality.”

▪ The primary reason Olsen was in the NASCAR Hall of Fame was to place the ceremonial “first bet,” when the state legalized sports gambling at noon Monday. He placed a $100 wager on Bubba Wallace winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship — a long shot that would give him a $4,100 payout should that come true.

There’s a lot to be said about how sports gambling has changed the game. Players being tempted to gamble on the games they play a part in is always a sensitive subject. So is the vitriol fans spew when a player’s performance isn’t up to snuff. Olsen experienced the extra fan scrutiny as fantasy football took hold early in his career — but he mainly reflected on the positives on Monday, stating that betting drives engagement with the sport and rises a tide that lifts all boats.

“For fans to have more reasons to tune in, for fans to have more reasons to really be engaged with not just their favorite teams but teams around the league like fantasy (football) does,” Olsen said, adding, “I think on both sides of that relationship, it just leads to more growth and more fun.”