CHARLOTTE — In the special teams room, they have a simple game they play each day called "New Guy, Who Dis."

When a new teammate arrives, they stand up, say their name and where they're from, and maybe a fun fact about themselves if they're the gregarious type.

Then they sit down and get to work because there's a lot of work to do.

"We don't call anybody by their jersey number around here," special teams coordinator Tracy Smith said. "So we've got to figure out who our guys are."

That line, as simple as it sounds, is kind of a microcosm of the entire Panthers offseason, though it's obviously been magnified in the last week and a half, with six waiver claims and a seventh new guy signed off another practice squad right before they play their first game of a new era.

But the entire offseason has been like that, honestly. Going back to an active free agency period in March, rolling new guys in through camp, trading for a starter in late August, and all the recent shuffling, there are a lot of new guys and a lot of who dis.

Seriously, look at that list of transactions.

Of the 53 players on the active roster, 23 weren't here in January when last season ended. That kind of turnover was necessary, frankly. You don't really want inertia after a 2-15 season, which led to a change in coach and general manager. But it's still a factor they have to deal with, both at a football and human level as they enter the season.

Dave Canales talks about building the "culture" he wants here a lot, in addition to fixing the football. And he acknowledged this week that making the omelet of a new product requires breaking some eggs, but he's leaning into it.

"It's something new that we're going to become, which I'm excited about," the rookie head coach said. "And that's really been the tone that I've taken with the team, and the tone the team has taken as well. We've got a bunch of new guys to play with. Let's learn each other. Let's figure out a style that we know how to play with that."

Again, that's something the Panthers needed to do.

But it's been a lot.

Long snapper JJ Jansen hasn't seen it all here, but he's seen most of it. He arrived in the late-stage John Fox era, endured the 2011 lockout and the transition to head coach Ron Rivera, which brought a rush of transactions all at once just before the start of training camp. He enjoyed the highs of a 15-1 season and a Super Bowl trip, and the lows of the last few years, with three head coaches and two interims in the last three seasons.

And he admits he's never seen anything quite like this.

"No, I haven't," Jansen said, as he stood in a locker room with a lot of new faces. "Especially the last 10 to 14 days. It's been pretty dramatic in terms of turning over the roster.

"I've certainly seen from afar that other teams turn the roster over, especially in the offseason, looking for guys, and if those guys don't pop right away, then let's turn it again and let's see who else is out there. But this has been more dramatic than anything I've ever seen."

And that's required a lot from a lot of people.

Quarterback Bryce Young laughed when asked the simple question this week of whether he knew all the new people.

"Of course, they're my teammates," he said before laughing and shrugging, tacitly admitting that it was taking a second to figure out which guy was in which locker stall.

Navigating the locker room creates its own game of "New Guy, Who Dis," because of all the new faces.

With so much turnover in the practice squad as well (seven of the 17 members weren't here in training camp), all of the lockers aren't labeled yet, so there's still some guessing going on. Over there with the large fellows, is that Ja'Tyre Carter or Brandon Walton? The smaller guys on the other side, is that Shemar Bartholomew or Keenan Isaac? It takes a minute, for sure.

Linebacker Jon Rhattigan, claimed off waivers from the Seahawks because he was a known special teams commodity who figures to play right away, laughed and said he kept his introduction simple.

"You just tell people, I'm John, fourth year, went to Army, and I'm coming from Seattle," Rhattigan said. "I keep it short and brief. They're going to poke at you for more as time goes on; that's the fun part about football, though, the relationship-building stuff you get from the locker room. That's the stuff as players we cherish the most from our time here.

"But we've got to get to work, too."

That balance between the ridiculous rate of turnover and the looming deadline has forced these guys to accept this as a new norm and embrace it.

"I've never seen it like this before, but I kind of enjoy it," team captain Shaq Thompson said. "I like it. Everything happened, you know. So it's time for a change and at the end of the day, it's what you have to do, so you know, I like it. The guys they brought in, those guys all work; you see them out there making plays and everything. So I enjoy it.

"But right now, we're just focused on this weekend because it's time, we're doing this."

Thompson also walks the halls, introducing himself to guys as they enter, because they need to build that familiarity fast. So he's been throwing an arm around a lot of new people.

"The first thing is to say you're welcome here," Thompson said. "Like I don't care where you came from; you're here now. You're welcome. You're part of this team. You're a brotherhood, and we've just got to make it a family."

There's also the small matter of teaching these guys the football.

During the preseason, there were several days when they were bringing guys in the day before they traveled to a game who had to play in that game. At one point, four of their eight active offensive linemen had arrived in the previous week, so assistant offensive line coach Keli'i Kekuewa and offensive quality control assistant Dean Petzing were giving players the basics of the playbook on the turf field inside the corridors of the stadium so they could function on the field.

It's a little more settled now; everyone fits in a meeting room, but the staff is still working overtime. They're also relying on guys who have been here all of four months because, in some rooms, that makes a guy a veteran.

This week, the tight end room has found the latest addition, with Messiah Swinson coming in Wednesday from the Packers practice squad (he's easier to spot since he's the tallest guy on the roster). Since veterans Tommy Tremble and Ian Thomas aren't practicing this week, that leaves just converted wide receiver Jordan Matthews and rookie Ja'Tavion Sanders to help him get used to his new place on the practice field.

"It's also relying on the guys that have been there," offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said of getting Swinson up to speed. "The JTs, we're talking about who benefited from all the extra reps, they've got the experience to just go ahead and echo what the coaches are trying to accomplish. So we trust our guys because we're far along now, and they know what we're trying to accomplish as a group. And they're going to echo a lot of those sentiments we're trying to get across a little bit faster.

"And we need it because we don't have 24 hours in the day to just keep harping on these same points. They're going to have times when they're not right in front of their coach, and they need to lean on their teammates as well."

The idea of Sanders, who was drafted on April 27 and arrived in May for rookie minicamp, being one of the ones teaching speaks to the current situation.

But it may actually be easier for the young ones to deal with what's happening now.

Fellow rookie Trevin Wallace said that because college football is fully in the transfer portal era, guys are used to yearly turnover beyond what a recruiting class would bring.

"With the portal, we're used to this," Wallace said with a laugh.

So, do you know everyone in this locker room right now?

"It depends," Wallace said, nodding toward a guy who just showed up this week. "You get used to it."

For older players, this offseason represents a pragmatic reality of the NFL. They knew better than to expect the status quo after a 2-15 season. For center Austin Corbett, it became clear in March when he became a center with the arrival of free agent guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. The message that Dan Morgan and Dave Canales were going to give this place a shake was clear and communicated early.

"We're going to play our type of ball; if you're not getting the job done, we're going to get somebody who does," Corbett said. "So they set the standard, they raise that standard. They're clear and open, honest about it. This is what it is. This is how it's going to be.

"When you have that. You know those are the expectations. This is my job. This is how I have to do it; if I don't, it'll be me."

Veteran receiver Adam Thielen, who arrived last offseason, said the process reminded him of his final year in Minnesota (which also came with a new coach and a new GM). But he also only has four other familiar faces on the 53-man roster in his meeting room, plus the three wideouts on the practice squad, only one of whom was here during training camp. That drives home the reality of business in a hurry.

"They're trying to win, they're trying to get the best roster possible and it's the NFL, so if they feel like they can find better out there, they're going to do it," Thielen said. "Even as a veteran guy, it makes you realize that it's not easy to make a roster, number one, and it's not easy to sustain being around this league for a long time because there's just not a lot of spots. You look around the receiver room; what was it on Thursday or whatever, five guys? And you realize, man, it was 11 or 12 for the last three months. So there's just not a lot of spots and there's not a lot of opportunities.

"So you've just got to keep pushing, and you got to keep finding a way to prove your worth."

Thielen noted that the pace of change eventually slows, partly because it has to. The Panthers have the first spot in waiver claim order for another few weeks, so some more shuffling seems reasonable. But there's a season to play now.

"That's why it's so important to win games in this league," Thielen said, understanding the bottom-line nature of the business. "It's job security for everyone."

Outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney understands the business, as the 31-year-old outside linebacker is now on his sixth team in the last seven years. So he's used to quick introductions and getting to work. When he went to Seattle in 2019 after five years in Houston, he was shocked by all the differences, but now, he knows all he truly controls is his own performance, so he focuses on that. And having been with Canales previously, he knows what to expect here.

"When I got to Seattle, it was a little different than it is now because I was a lot younger," he said. "But now it's like, I'm not really worried about trying to fit in; I'm like trying to do my own, and hopefully people follow me because I have learned a lot throughout my career.

"So when I get places, I'll see guys, or I know a coach I've been around, that makes it a lot easier for me to fit in and learn a system. But mostly, you get to work."

And that's the key this week. There has been a lot of change. There will be more in the weeks and months to come. But Canales and Morgan are trying to create something that will last years, so this work is the foundation for the future. So having known agents like Clowney can help the process since he's at once emblematic of the change and aware of the expectations.

Canales knows the last few weeks have been a lot. But he's also clear about what he wants to do. He highlights examples of effort plays. He counts on the leaders to send a message.

"We rely on the guys that have been here that I've talked to through the spring and through camp as we continue to put our play style in front of them, showing great examples from practices," Canales said. "This is what we're looking for, attacking the football, rallying to the ball. The great effort plays, whether it's a backside receiver blocking on a run away or whether it's a backside corner chasing a run that gets out, so those type of effort plays, those are the things that we celebrate and the way to create our culture is on how we celebrate the things that are important to us.

"And then, of course, there's an element of leaning on the leadership of this team. They know what I'm expecting, they know what our coaching staff is asking of them, and for those guys to really onboard the newcomers as far as how we practice, how we prepare, the way that we compose ourselves in this building, and how we treat each other with respect.

"And so, you know, it's an ongoing thing that we're going to continue to be creating with our culture. But the fact that we do have new faces and a bunch of young guys that have been with us through camp, these are guys that we're going to be able to build the right culture."