CHARLOTTE — In perhaps the least surprising discovery of the Dave Canales era, it turns out that Dave Canales is a silver lining guy rather than a dark cloud guy.

So, after a rain-soaked middle portion of the second practice of training camp, the Panthers' rookie head coach naturally saw it as an opportunity rather than an impediment.

"Offensively, what a great day to deal with a little bit of rain, you know, to deal with a little bit of weather early on in practice, you know, to really heighten the awareness of the ball security, which we're harping on anyway," Canales began. "But we had a couple of drops, we had a ball get punched out, and just the importance of that intentionality regardless of the weather, especially when it's wet."

Seriously, that's the most #asexpected Canales quote yet.

Canales said it was a good way to work on what defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero has been harping on since he arrived — creating turnovers. There were a few drops from offensive players which were collected, and one punched out.

Every time the defense made such a play, it triggered a big celebration on that side of the field, no matter who made it. Really, that's been the case for two days, as all of the guys in white jerseys start yelling whenever anyone does anything, whether it's veteran corner Troy Hill putting a faux-hit on Diontae Johnson (there's not any actual or meaningful contact yet), Nick Scott scooping up a fumble and taking off with it, or rookie safety Clayton Isbell breaking up a pass. The celebration is the same.

Johnson laughed when asked about that implied shot from Hill and the reaction it drew, saying: "I wanted to say something, but that's not me no more. I'm trying to grow. You know, they're going to talk. It's defense, and you've got to let them have a little feel-good moment. So, move on to the next play. I'll make my play the next time."

That part was in jest, but the Panthers are serious about creating more turnovers this year. They ranked 25th in the league in turnover differential last year (minus-9), but created just 11 turnovers on the year (fewest in the league).

"Those are the moments that we have to capture," Canales said. "So it's kind of interesting as an offensive coach, those things always kind of make the hair rise a little bit on my neck, but to see the defense and the intentionality was like, that's exactly what we want. It's exactly the type of football we're looking for."

- Rookie wideout Xavier Legette might not have liked his first day of practice, but the second was much better, including an impressive leaping catch in one-on-ones.

Canales appreciated that and said that working against a cornerback such as Jaycee Horn would be good practice for the first-round pick.

"He's got a real great opportunity to go against one of the best corners in the NFL in Jaycee Horn," Canales said. "What a great matchup to see those two go one-on-one. Yesterday Xavier had two opportunities against a great corner and he kind of learned, some guys, you're not going to be able to just bully and get open. You're going to have to use your skill set, your footwork, your finesse the stems and the routes.

"That's where we make us, we make our team with those competitions. Think about Robert Hunt going against Derrick Brown every day. You know, Damien Lewis when he's on the other side, and you have A'Shawn Robinson and Shy Tuttle and that inside group with Austin Corbett having to battle against each other every day for a camp. That's how you become great."

— The crowd at practice Thursday morning was certainly grateful that the bleacher seats for fans were covered, as the rain was fairly persistent at points in the day. And perhaps because of that weather, the crowd was packed in there.

In days to come, a few more could join them.

While all the camp practices are sold out other than Back Together Saturday and Fan Fest at Clemson, there are still chances to see practices here.

Though the practices are technically still sold out, a limited number of walk-up tickets will be available each day. Fans can come to the main entrance off West 4th Street for availability.

It's a cool opportunity, rain or shine, to see the team in its new urban setting.

— Quarterback Bryce Young turned 23 on Thursday, and it was a low-key celebration. Fans did serenade him as he made his way into practice, but it's not as if he's out celebrating, he's in training camp mode.

"My parents are out here so they're going to drop me off some food," he said. "So grateful for that."

Otherwise, kind of another day at the office for him.

— Canales said he was in no hurry to make any declarations in the kicking competition between Eddy Piñeiro and Harrison Mevis.

The two are alternating days kicking in team drills. Piñeiro was perfect in his segment yesterday, while Mevis missed a long one Thursday.

"I learned this from Pete (Carroll, his old boss in Seattle), it's like, don't make the decision until the last possible time that you have to," Canales said. "So you can just keep gathering information. The evaluation process continues."

— The Panthers had a few absences at the beginning of practice.

Canales said that safety Jordan Fuller was excused to deal with a family matter.

Tight end Tommy Tremble also showed up late. Canales said that Tremble had a minor hamstring deal, and they wanted to stay ahead of it by limiting his work now to keep it from becoming worse later.

It must not have been too bad, since Tremble was actually driving the golf cart that delivered the players on the active/PUP list to the practice field midway through.

— A group of free agents arrived near the end of practice for a workout, as figures to be commonplace during this camp.

But one face in particular was a familiar one, as former Panthers pass-rusher Marquis Haynes was here to work out.

Haynes spent the last six seasons here after he was chosen in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. He started last year on IR because of a back issue, but came back to play in seven games. He has 14.0 career sacks, including a career-high 5.0 in 2022. The Panthers are continuing to look at multiple options at the outside linebacker spot, and workouts are likely to continue.

The Panthers are thin there at the moment, with D.J. Wonnum still on the active/PUP list and DJ Johnson coming back from a brief illness. That leaves Jadeveon Clowney and K'Lavon Chaisson with the first group.

But Canales, unsurprisingly, defended the position group.

"We'll get DJ Wonnum back at some point when he's healthy, with Clowney, that's a pretty good group right there," Canales said.