Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young did not exactly come out with the breakout season everyone was expecting from him after he was selected as the first overall pick in last year’s draft. The former Alabama superstar quickly realized how hard life is in the pros as he struggled to make a real impact in his rookie campaign.
Young will be back with a vengeance in Year 2, though, and teammate Adam Thielen is confident that this young man will prove all the doubters wrong in his sophomore campaign.
Carolina Panthers News: Adam Thielen Remains Extremely Confident in Bryce Young
Speaking during a recent appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, Thielen revealed the major change he’s seen in his young quarterback during the offseason. According to the veteran wide receiver, Young has come in with a different kind of swagger of late:
“It’s been awesome. Not only him, just a lot of the young guys, a lot of the staff. It’s just been a great offseason to just see some of these guys who haven’t been in the league very long — just the way that they’ve come in with confidence,” Thielen said (h/t Myles Simmons of PFT). “You can tell, Bryce’s demeanor in the building — he’s just more comfortable, right? And you don’t realize it when you start getting to be a veteran guy, just because you forget about those times.”
Thielen also pointed out that a full offseason with the team should work wonders for Young. Last year, he wasn’t able to join the squad until after April’s draft, but this time around, he’s had an additional couple of months to bond with his teammates both on and off the field.
“I’m thinking back to that like, now he’s there,” Thielen said. “Now we’re getting routes on air, we’re around each other, we’re in the locker room together, we’re BSing, talking about how great the Timberwolves are — because I’m a Timberwolves fan. So, you have that time together that we didn’t have last year.”
‘We’re In a Good Place’
Thielen is adamant that Young will take a significant step forward in his second year in the league. Now that he has a full season under his belt, the 22-year-old will take everything he’s learned in his debut campaign to help in his mission to prove what he’s really capable of in Year 2:
“So, it’s been a really cool offseason to see how he’s come back with, OK, I’ve got urgency, I’ve got confidence, I have comfortability in the system, in the facility, the locker room, and what that does for a player,” Thielen said. “I’m excited about what that looks like going into training camp.
“Again, like I said last year and I’ll never not talk about this — things are always great this time of year. There’s no wins, no losses, there’s no adversity. It’s all good right now, every single team thinks they can go to the playoffs and have a chance to win the Super Bowl. So we’ll see how it goes when the bullets start flying, but we’re in a good place.”
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