Two assistant coaches participating in all-star games

Speaking of those scouts, most teams send a contingent to these all-star games. Bates knows he’ll have an up-close look though that could help the Carolina Panthers as early as this spring, or years from now in free agency.

“Excited to see some guys that I probably haven’t watched, or I have watched and didn’t even know that it was them,” Bates shared. “So I’m looking forward to meeting all the guys that are there just for the fact, even if we don’t get them, still to be able to keep up with them as their career progresses in the NFL because down the line, you never know how free agency works.”

Bates is a former linebacker who won a National Championship with the 2011 Auburn Tigers and spent nine years playing in the NFL. He joined the Seattle Seahawks coaching staff in 2023 as an assistant. When Tracy Smith was hired by Dave Canales as the special teams coordinator, he brought one of his favorite former players and fellow Seahawks coach—Bates—with him to Queen City.

Smith always knew Bates would excel at understanding the game from his perspective. Where the elder coach has seen the young leader grow this season is learning how to connect with every player under his purview.

“He’s getting better week to week on the fundamentals of coaching. The indoor stuff is the stuff that any player turned coach has to learn and figure out the one-on-one communication, the teaching about things that weren’t particularly your position when you played, trying to describe things to a gunner or a jammer, stuff that he didn’t do,” Smith explained of Bates during the season.

“It was natural for him to explain the things that he had experienced. So kind of going beyond that, learning how to break down another team and say, ‘This is what they do. Here are their strengths and weaknesses, as opposed to just your individual matchup, which are all things he’s developing as he goes.”

The one thing anyone who has watched Panthers games this year knows, though, is Bates will always be the most energetic person on the sidelines during a game. It’s something he’s sure to keep up even after only one week spent with new players.

“He’s a fantastic connector with the team,” Smith continued. “Has outstanding energy from day to day. The game day management stuff is all things that we’re working on and I got no complaints. He’s done a great job so far.”