The Carolina Panthers, and head coach Dave Canales, made the decision to bench former No. 1 overall pick and starting quarterback Bryce Young on Monday following two colossally disappointing games to open the 2024 NFL season.
It’s easy to see why Canales and Carolina would want to go in a different direction, both in terms of Young’s own struggles but also to the point that he had been so ineffective that it seemingly was going to eventually prove difficult to evaluate the rest of the offensive players on the roster if they are being led by suboptimal quarterback play. There’s also an element of protecting Young.
Through two weeks, Young had completed a meager 55.4 percent of his passes for just 245 yards with three interceptions as the Panthers’ offense managed a combined 13 points against the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers.
Meanwhile, in recent years, Panthers’ owner David Tepper has developed a reputation for being meddling, impatient, and overbearing.
Canales was asked Monday what Tepper’s role, if any, was in the decision to turn the page from Young, chosen with the No. 1 overall pick a year ago, to Andy Dalton, was.
The head coach’s answer didn’t do much to dispel prior notions about Tepper.
“I want to keep that private,” Tepper told reporters. “I watched the film, I had a thought and we had those discussions.”
It is worth pointing out that while Canales was hired by the Panthers, in part to help resurrect Young following a woeful rookie season on the heels of the head coach’s success with Baker Mayfield in 2023 in Tampa Bay, Canales wasn’t in the building when Carolina chose Young over reigning Offensive Rookie of The Year Bryce Young.
While it should be the head coach and coaching staff’s decision on the direction the franchise takes at quarterback, if Tepper was involved in that decision this early into Young’s second season, it isn’t an encouraging sign about how much power Canales and staff might yield should they decide to draft a quarterback in next Spring’s draft to replace him.
Questions Persist Over Bryce Young’s Potential
Concern’s over Young’s size, at just 5-foot-10 and 204 pounds, have followed the former Alabama standout through his struggles over the past two seasons leading one NFL executive to suggest they may be a reason he has fallen so short of expectations.
“I’m really not trying to pile on here,” an NFC Executive told me of Young, after the Panthers were blown out by the Saints in Week 1. “But that game gives me the same read on Bryce as when he came out … It’s hard to exist in an NFL pocket at his size. It’s never been done before. Never.”
It remains to be seen if and when Young will get another chance to prove detractors and doubters wrong after being benched ahead of Week 3.
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