Many members of the NFL community understandably believed after first-year Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales benched second-year quarterback Bryce Young two weeks into this season that Young’s time with the Panthers was essentially “over.”
However, that was before Young notched back-to-back victories as veteran Andy Dalton continued to recover from a thumb injury he suffered in a car accident.
For Friday’s edition of The Athletic’s “Scoop City” newsletter, NFL insider Dianna Russini revealed that she believes the Panthers are “still trying to figure out what they want to do” regarding Young’s future.
While Carolina made Young the first overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, he endured a rough rookie season and then looked like a bust over the ongoing campaign’s first two weeks before Canales mercifully went to Dalton. In three starts following Dalton’s injury, however, Young completed 55-of-88 pass attempts (62.5%) for 521 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 45 yards on nine carries.
“I think he watched Andy Dalton, and I think that helped,” Russini noted about how serving as a backup earlier this fall resulted in Young bouncing back from two woeful outings.
Meanwhile, former NFL quarterback and current analyst Chase Daniel argued the Panthers shouldn’t give up on Young this offseason unless the 23-year-old performs like a lost cause through Week 18.
“The free agency class, the draft class are not good,” Daniel said for the “Scoop City” newsletter. “Wait another year with Young — if you’re shown enough promise, that’s what you do … I don’t know if just drafting a guy to draft a guy, like Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward or Quinn Ewers, I don’t know if they’re better than Young — we forget that Young was a frickin’ No. 1 overall pick. It’s in there somewhere.”
For a piece published Friday, ESPN’s David Newton detailed how Young “is finally having fun” after the signal-caller experienced plenty of down moments over the past 14 months or so. Whether or not Young finally enjoying life as an NFL QB1 will help him have success when 3-7 Carolina hosts the 9-1 Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday shall be seen.
As of Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Panthers as 10.5-point underdogs against the Chiefs.
