Poor Bryce Young. What a disaster since he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2023 to become the “franchise quarterback” for the Carolina Panthers. He went 2-14 as a rookie, got a new coach and it’s even worse. Now he’s benched.
They booed Young and the rest of the winless Panthers during and after the home opener against Jim Harbaugh’s team on Sunday, when the quarterback’s longest completion went for 12 yards. He finished with a career-low 84 passing yards. The next day, the 23-year-old Young, drafted as a key piece to a championship dream, lost his job.
It should be noted that after the drubbing from the Los Angeles Chargers, first-year Panthers coach Dave Canales was downright adamant in maintaining that Young would start the next game: “Bryce is our quarterback.”
Roughly 24 hours later, Canales announced the demotion, and that veteran journeyman Andy Dalton would start on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. The moral of that flip-flop is to never trust a promise from the coach until he’s watched the film. Or talked to the team owner. Canales maintained that he changed his mind after watching the video evidence.
If Young’s two-game performance this season isn’t enough – he’s the NFL’s lowest-rated passer (44.1), with zero TDs – I’m suspecting that Panthers owner David Tepper might have also influenced the switch. Tepper surely saw it in person and on film, too. And he must be sick and tired of being associated with one bad move after another. Since Tepper bought the franchise in 2018, the Panthers are 31-70 – with zero winning seasons.
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Although Canales declared that it was his call and that Dalton is the choice for the next game because he gives the team the best chance of winning, what would change, barring injury, the next week and week after that? Canales, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coordinator, was hired to develop Young. And now that’s gone sideways. After Canales previously insisted that game experience was crucial to the development, maybe the thinking now is that Young will grow by watching from the sideline. Hey, Patrick Mahomes sat for a year. And Michael Penix Jr. is sitting behind Kirk Cousins. But those are serious exceptions in today’s NFL, which fair or not, tends to expect its highly drafted quarterbacks to come out of college and have ASAP impact. In many instances, the expectations are unrealistic. And maybe, too, those enormous expectations explain why it seems that Young may have already run out of time.
Still, this sudden twist could be a blessing in disguise for Young – if it’s his ticket out of town. With an 18-game sample size, maybe Tepper has seen enough to know that it just isn’t going to work over the long haul with Young. Since breaking in as a rookie starter, Young has an 11-to-13 TD-to-INT ratio (which isn’t terrible) while posting a mediocre 70.9 pass efficiency rating and absorbing 68 sacks. He seems to have regressed since his rookie year, playing with little confidence while leading an offense that is stuck in park.
If the patience has worn out, the Panthers should look to get Young out of his Carolina misery and put him on the trade market for a fresh start elsewhere (a la the Chicago Bears’ move in trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers in March). Maybe elsewhere would be with a team with a better supporting cast – which includes defense, too, given how Carolina’s D (25th in total yards allowed, 31st against the run) has been shredded through two games – and a lot less pressure.
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It’s rather striking that two former “temporary” Panthers quarterbacks – Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold – have started the new campaign at 2-0. So, yes, formidable passers have flowed through the program in recent years, but apparently the Panthers couldn’t help themselves from believing they had to keep searching for better answers. In other words, the issues are deeper than at quarterback.
Still, it doesn’t happen without a quarterback and Canales, 43, helped fuel Mayfield’s rebound last season with the Bucs. That undoubtedly was a reason Tepper lured the coach with no head coaching experience to Charlotte, looking for similar impact with Young. And before his one year in Tampa, Canales had a hand in Geno Smith’s revival with the Seahawks. Smith, too, is off to a 2-0 start this season.
It appears doubtful, though, that Canales will have a magic wand effect on Young.
Don’t blame Young for how this has unfolded. The Panthers traded away a bundle to get him – dealing two first-round picks, two second-round picks and star receiver DJ Moore to the Bears to move to the top of the 2023 draft. One of those picks, incidentally, turned into the choice the Bears used in April to select Caleb Williams as their “franchise quarterback.” Some are already calling it one of the most lopsided trades in NFL history.
Young didn’t pull the trigger on the trade. That was since-fired GM Scott Fitterer, who earlier this year followed ex-coach Frank Reich in walking the plank. It’s just that Young has been under the gun to live up to the value of the trade. And good luck with that.
Also, Carolina could have drafted C.J. Stroud with that No. 1 pick overall. Stroud went on to win Offensive Rookie of the Year honors with the Houston Texans, who picked him No. 2 overall. And after sparking the Texans to a playoff berth last season, Stroud, too, is currently 2-0.
It’s not Young’s fault that the Panthers – apparently with Tepper’s blessing, if not influence, too – miscalculated by not choosing Stroud. Young didn’t make the pick. It’s just that as long as he’s in Carolina while Stroud is tearing it up in Houston, the comparisons will persist.
The Panthers can’t undo the draft decision or the monster trade now, but if they are assured that Young is not the linchpin for the future, it behooves Dan Morgan, promoted this year to become GM/president of football operations, to salvage what the market might bear. Why not try getting some draft capital? When Young was in the draft process, there were questions about whether his slight, 5-foot-10 frame would hold up to NFL pounding. But with a Heisman Trophy and SEC competition on his resume from starring at Alabama, plenty of teams were bullish on his NFL potential.
Go ahead, Panthers. Call around. There’s no shame in admitting the mistake of the previous regime (aided, of course, by Tepper) and cutting your losses. With a fresh start with another team, the weight of the 2023 trade, the characterization of being a major draft bust and comparisons to Stroud, all take a backseat for the chance to re-set what still has the potential to be a long NFL journey.
Now if only the Panthers – who can try it again by drafting a young quarterback next year – would do right by Young and deal him away. If it doesn’t happen before the NFL trade deadline on Nov. 5, then it’s on to the offseason agenda. After all, all parties involved could use a fresh start.