CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Regardless of his debut against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, it’s hard for Brad Idzik to top his lone call from the 2020 Pro Bowl.
Idzik was in his first year as a low-level offensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks, whose staff was selected to coach an NFC team after an early exit from the 2019 playoffs. Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has tasked the 28-year-old Idzik with developing a trick play for the game in Orlando, Florida.
After his playing career with the Devil Deacons ended, Idzik landed a double pass at Wake Forest, a small Presbyterian college. So at the NFC offensive meeting, Idzik explained that for superstars like Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Davante Adams and Ezekiel Elliott, the game starts backwards from the artificial field at Camping World Stadium, hoping the defense thinks the play is dead after the ball hits the ground.
“As you can imagine, a mid-20s[coach]stood in front of this group of Pro Bowlers, Drew Brees and all these guys, showing this Presbyterian (film) cut and throwing the ball down the field,” Idzik recalled. “I’m like, ‘Okay guys, this is what we’re going to do.'”
Schottenheimer found space to try in the second quarter. Wilson bounced a pass to Kenny Golladay to Adams for a 34-yard touchdown. Game Caller was born.
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“You can go back and find him. We threw him a touchdown pass in the Pro Bowl, which I thought was the best thing ever,” Idzik said. “That was my first and it’s like, ‘Hey, if you design it right and have the right people do the right work, this whole thing can work.’”
With Idzik starting as the Carolina Panthers’ play caller, the Bears’ defense plays at the highest intensity in the AFC. He’s 34 now, not the NFL’s youngest offensive coordinator when he was hired in 2024, but still six years younger than Panthers long snapper JJ Johnson.
Idzik’s youth and not being a head coach helped him connect with quarterback Bryce Young and other Panthers offensive players on a different level than coach Dave Canales announced in February. He was performing play calling duties..
Idzik is part of a three-generation NFL family that impressed Canales with his football IQ, work ethic and the game he grew up playing when he was hired by Seattle.
“You could feel there was a sense of heritage with him. You could feel there was a lot of love with him and it showed,” Canales said. “I can say with confidence that Brad Idzik is the strongest player on our staff. He’s the most conditioned and in-shape coach on our staff. I’ve been chasing him for 10 years trying to stay with that guy.
“It’s his work ethic. It’s how much he cares about the players, how much he cares about being the best that gave me the confidence to give him this opportunity.”
Before the Panthers opened the preseason in Canton, Ohio, Idzik visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame, honoring his grandfather, John Idzik, a Super Bowl champion in 2011.
After four years as the head coach at the University of Detroit, John Idzik served as offensive backs coach for the Miami Dolphins and Colts before serving as offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets. In the year He died in 2013 during Brad Idzik’s senior year at Wake.
“My dad always talks,” Brad said. “He’s like, ‘Man, I wish I could have seen him coach, I wish I could have seen you coach.’
But Idzik had early exposure to the NFL through his father, also named John, who worked in front offices for a few teams, including a two-year stint as the Jets’ general manager in 2013-14.
Brad Idzik’s earliest football memories are of sweating in the bleachers at the old Tampa Stadium when his father was the Buccaneers’ football coordinator. When his sons reached adulthood, John Idzik had each of the three join him at Bucks training camp at the University of Tampa on separate days.
“Let’s spend the night and go to the food hall,” Idzik said. “You go from practice to meeting with him, jump in his golf cart and take him back to your hotel.”
As a middle schooler in Arizona, Idzik would do mock drafts every year to see who the Cardinals should select. In the year In 2006, he thought the Cards should take Georgia tight end Leonard Pope. The Cardinals’ decision makers also liked Pope and decided to take him in the third round. John Idzik, the team’s director of football operations, called the boy and let him know that he influenced the selection.
“I said you can’t tell anybody. Nobody knows. We’re on the clock. But we’re going to vote for your guy, Leonard Bishop,” John Idzik said with a laugh.
“He wasn’t just a fly-by-night, pick candidate for the Topps draft card. He studied guys,” John added. “He would ask me about boys when I went to school or practice or a game.”
Idzik’s interest in the draft continued during his years at Wake Forest, where he was a special teams player and backup receiver after transferring from Lehigh after his second ACL surgery. Idzik and his roommates occupy a lecture hall at Jordan Garside’s business school, write their mocks on the whiteboard, and host a two-person draft party.
“We’ve been carrying pizza. I don’t think anyone really shares the passion that he and I do,” Garside said. “It wasn’t casual for us. We were getting into the players and what their next choice was.”
Even at a school like Wake Forest, Idzik’s academic pursuits stood out. “I think he’s probably the only player on the team who’s good at accounting,” Garside said.
He is probably the only player to have spent his last semester abroad at Cambridge. If Idzik hadn’t emailed Stanford coach David Shaw, he might have landed a graduate assistantship and gone into football scouting or business. Idzik was at Stanford for five seasons, with a master’s degree in liberal arts and a familiar career path, but one of his own choices.
“I always admired that about my dad. He always made sure I didn’t do football because he was into it,” Idzik said. “He wanted me to carve my own path.”
John Idzik, who is retired and lives in Florida, said he and his wife, Carol, encouraged their children to follow their dreams. Their eldest son, Bryant, is an engineer at SpaceX, and their daughter, Holly, is an elementary school teacher and yoga instructor.
“We have three kids with different interests and personalities,” John said. “And as parents, all we want is to find your passion, pursue your passion and help you in any way we can. And Brad was just football.”
Idzik helped Canales prepare for offensive coordinator interviews when they were both in Seattle, then accompanied him to Tampa when Canales landed the OC job with the Buccaneers in 2023.
Brad Idzik calls plays from the sidelines to interact with the offense and quarterback Bryce Young. (Eric Hartline/Imag Images)
“I remember his freshman year, he was always running all over the place, running routes and stuff like that. I’m like, ‘Is that our OC? Is he just running around doing that?'” Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble said. But he’s a good cat, man. We have a lot of respect for Brad.
According to offensive passing game coordinator Mike Bercovici, Idzik’s energetic personality is a good complement to the young man’s equally outgoing demeanor.
Bercovici, Idzik’s assistant, said: “It’s about the pre-snap interactions, the praise (Young) after the big game — that’s our culture here to keep things going and show appreciation when guys do it right. “It’s good to see them grow, whether it’s a chest beat or the radio, ‘Great Game.’ It’s always a win for our quarter to smile or laugh. … Something good is going on.
Idzik plans to call plays from the sidelines. “I want this to be my taste,” he said. “I want to embrace everyone around me and make them feel heard about our offense, and I’m making sure it aligns with how I want it to go down.”
It remains to be seen how the Panthers offense will fare in Idzik’s first season. They both start the year without starting games and are unsure of what to expect as Jonathon Brooks returns from his second ACL surgery. But Young has playmakers in Tetaroa McMillan, the 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year, Jalen Coker, Chuba Hubbard, Brooks, Trumble and veteran tight end Darren Waller.
Canales and assistant head coach Darrell Bevel, the former Seahawks offensive coordinator, weighed in with their comments. But Canales wants the blame to fall on Idzik. Idzik says: “Dave was all, ‘Put the gun, Brad, let’s go, and we’ll evaluate it as we go and grow it together.'”
The same goes for John Idzik. The former GM will come to a few games, talk about various situations and serve as a voice for his son, who he believes is well-equipped for the next level of his career.
John said: “(People say) ‘Boy, he’s a young coordinator.'” I think he’s young in age but not young in experience. He’s done this for a long time, exposed for a long time.”