CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales has talked all offseason about going into his rookie year with advice from mentors such as Pete Carroll and Tony Dungy.

But as he pointed out on Monday, he has a couple of those close to home, as well.

Canales said that the counsel of former head coaches on his staff — Jim Caldwell and Dom Capers — has also added a layer to his preparation for his first NFL game.

"Just having that kind of experience, I'm surrounded by a lot of guys who have seen a lot of football," Canales said.

The 69-year-old Caldwell has seven years of experience as a head coach, going 62-50 during his time with the Colts and Lions and making four playoff appearances. He also has 44 total years in football and 20 in the NFL and was also the head coach at Wake Forest.

The 74-year-old Capers had a pair of four-year stints with expansion teams, coaching the Panthers from 1995-98 and the Texans from 2002-05. The 48-80 record doesn't reflect the accomplishment, as he took the Panthers to the NFC Championship Game in just their second year of existence. Those jobs are part of his 50 total years in football, 38 of those in the NFL with 11 teams, and 25 years as a head coach or defensive coordinator.

That's a lot, and the 43-year-old Canales is quick to talk bout how much he leans on them.

Canales said that Caldwell encouraged him to create and consult with a leadership council of players on a regular basis.

"That was something that coach Caldwell did, and I thought it was a really powerful tool so that we could talk about the direction of our team with a group of guys that have been around the league and have good input," Canales said. "And we can take all those things into consideration."

Capers urged him to de-centralize his meeting time, allowing players more time with position coaches to work on details and game plans in a more targeted way.

"I think with coach Capers, from the onset, his commitment to playing good football and making the focus on the Xs and Os. So, where I would love to spend more time kind of talking through things in a team meeting session right now because we're still learning our schemes, we've thrown it all at the guys, but the players that we have available will determine what we do.

"So coach Capers is always encouraging me to get back to the football, let the guys get to that so they can coach guys up."

More than anything, Canales said he appreciates having them around as resources.

"We've had a lot of those conversations; how do we do this thing?" Canales said.

But as he goes through each of these things for the first time — his first playbook, his first practice, his first training camp, his first regular season game — he's also trying to put his own imprint on the product.

"I think the thing that Pete always told me over the years was whenever you get your opportunities to make sure that you care about the things that are important," he said of his former boss at USC and with the Seahawks. "So I've watched the things that are so important to Pete — the ball, both sides of it all phases, attacking the ball, taking care of it, running the football, playing with great toughness, our play style. All those things are really just kind of like in my DNA from the years I spent with Pete.

"And I think the important part as we do our weekly meetings, as we coordinate things, the feel of the practice. Really, it's finding our way, finding the Panthers' way to do things based on who our staff is, based on who our players are, and the character of this team. I think it's so important to kind of keep it in our wheelhouse in different ways. So there are some things that are, that are a little bit different. And then of course, being able to spend a year with Todd Bowles (in Tampa Bay) and to watch him lead with a completely different style. He cared about the same things.

"And I think that's what made me, what encouraged me the most was to say if I can stay focused on the things that matter to these guys, that mattered to Tony, that mattered to coach Capers, that mattered to coach Caldwell who are in the building, and keep our focus, then I feel like we can really build a good solid team with the mentality and with the philosophy."