Bryce Young appears to have been eating the breakfast of champions this offseason as his arms appear to have grown like tree trunks. Young’s new guns were on full display Monday as the Carolina Panthers began their first session of organized team activities in Charlotte.
Bryce Young Trusts the Process
After being drafted as the first overall pick in 2023’s draft, Bryce Young spoke with reporters on a myriad of things, including his size and how the Panthers plan to address that. “For me, I trust the strength and conditioning staff here,” he told reporters back on June 14, 2023. “We have an amazing strength staff that I’ve had the pleasure to work with and will continue to work with throughout the offseason. They do a great job here with not just me, but everybody on the team. So, they’re sending out plans, they’re sending out workouts and they have a plan for me just like they have a plan for everyone. I’m gonna follow their direction.”
Just a little over one year into his workout plans, Young is looking like an entirely different person. After a less-than-stellar first year in the league, he is looking to rebound in a big way. And, to be honest, he really has nowhere to go but up.
Pro Football Focus analyst Trevor Sikkema recently said of Young, “His overall athletic deficiencies (size and strength) were glaring last season.” His 52.6 passing grade ranked 41st among qualifying quarterbacks, and his 27.6 passing grade under pressure was the worst in the league.
As we head into the upcoming season, Trevor Sikkema recently ranked the NFL’s starting quarterbacks and Young is all the way down at No. 25, which is six below this year’s #1 draft pick, Caleb Williams, who will face Young and the Panthers Week 5 this season.
Bryce Young Has Help on the Way
If you can gauge the level of competence in a coach and general manager based on how they react to the previous season, then Dave Canales and Dan Morgan are Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. They saw glaring holes in the Panthers’ offense and they went out and got what they needed with the additions of wideouts Diontae Johnson and Xavier Legette, running back Jonathon Brooks, tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders and guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. Coach Canales told reporters on Monday that Young is doing a “fantastic” job of picking up the new offense.
When asked about his quarterback’s throwing ability, Canales said whether it was a “deep ball, short, intermediate—he’s a really accurate passer…” He continued, “I think one of the things that I love is, I can really focus in on his footwork and his base and the mechanics of where his eyes are at when I know the ball is hitting the receivers. So for the last couple of weeks, [he’s] been throwing on air. I don’t have to worry about where the ball’s going. He’s very accurate.”
Canales does acknowledge, however, that accuracy is to be expected for the starting quarterback of any NFL team, “They’re pros, right? So people have this expectation that quarterbacks are accurate.” In addition to Bryce’s accuracy, Canales is also impressed with “Bryce’s ability to be able to throw to different body types, different speeds, different quickness at the top of routes.”
Bryce Young is Ready to Play
As the Panthers schedule was unveiled last week, video of Bryce Young nodding as the Week 5 announcement vs. 2024 #1 pick Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears came out. He was asked about it by reporters and said, “For real? You can’t do anything these days,” he said while grinning. “Well one, I’m excited just to get another opportunity. Again, we’re on to a new year—for all of us. We have a chip on our shoulder. Obviously, we wanna compete. We have our goals. So for us, I feel like we don’t have that luxury of looking at games like, ‘We want this.’ We gotta go out and earn everything.”
And just like any competitor who is used to winning, Young finished his thought by saying, “I’m excited for that (Chicago Bears game) just like I’m excited about all the games. It’s not basketball. There’s no one-on-one matchups. This is a team sport. It’s gonna be the Panthers vs. every team.”
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