Bryce Young offers another chance as a starting quarterback in the NFL.
The top draft picks in the area tend to be recycled. The Carolina Panthers are currently treating Young like he’s standing in the batter’s box after the third strike.
You’re out. There is a small shot of being ruled safe, but only if the current battery fails, too.
New, No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, called the franchise a box of draft picks and No. 1 receiver DJ Moore. That drag went to the Chicago Bears as optimism swirled around a Carolina franchise full of change bigger than a city bus.
Inept wasn’t enough to explain the Panthers’ offense 19 games into Young’s evaluation. That’s why journeyman Andy Dalton is the new starter, and Young’s future has been labeled with many different things. Themba is not one of them.
We don’t know when Young, who is only 23 years old, will get another painting. We know it’s coming.
This isn’t as simple as pulling him aside to give him time to explore being a quality quarterback, watching games from a different angle. That would have meant giving him a few games as a backup and moving the former Alabama QB back into the starting lineup.
Young was at the controls for the first two weeks of the 2024 season. Carolina fans willing to look back in 2023 can clearly see the offense, under the watch of new head coach Dave Canales, was a complete failure.
The new one had a lot of help with that.
Enter Dalton.
He knows a thing or two about being productive in an NFL offense. Dalton’s performance in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders provided a spark for a dormant offense.
The Panthers went from brown bag excitement to the kind of explosive attack and efficiency Canales promised Young behind center.
If Dalton somehow stays healthy and productive, he continues to complicate things and confuse Carolina’s way of handling the big picture with Young. Keep in mind that Dalton turns 37 in October, about a week before the NFL trade deadline, which is Nov. 5.
Canales scored his first coaching goal with the Panthers last week, but it wasn’t his only big success on the job. He got the job with his ability to turn backups Geno Smith (Seahawks) and former draft pick Baker Mayfield (Buckoos) into Pro Bowl quarterbacks long after the rest of the team decided they were toast.
Dalton looked the same way in a 300-yard, three-TD game that was a stark contrast to Carolina’s lackluster streak in blowout losses to the Saints and Chargers. In those games, the Panthers were outscored 73-13.
Just days after beating the Raiders, he made one of the most anticlimactic announcements you can imagine: Dalton will be the starting quarterback for the Panthers’ matchup against the visiting Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday afternoon.
It is not played.
It’s a reminder that Canales can breathe a sigh of relief after seeing off a win, and Young at least faced a less stressful Sunday than a few weeks ago. He wasn’t chased by defensive linemen or, as he looked to the sideline, watching forward Johnny Hekker pass him in the opposite direction.
The Panthers have reportedly heard from other teams willing to discuss a trade since Young was demoted. So far, there are no deals—and probably not much interest in making one.
After all, the Panthers really want this to work with Ntsha. Owner David Tepper is all about investment; that’s how he made his billions to buy the Panthers.
And it was Tepper who signed in the draft nearly 18 months ago, when the Houston Texans were thrilled to select CJ Stroud No. 2 for Ohio State in the same intelligence.
The new one is standing in the shadows this week. But how long?
He’s one Dalton offense—or a few Carolina losses—away from getting back on the field in a big way.
For young people, today is quiet. But when the next opportunity comes, the stakes for Young will never be higher.