10:17pm: Canales has since said (via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport) a Young trade is “not something we’re really considering.” The rookie HC said he still believes Young can be a franchise quarterback but noted it is all hands on deck for this week.
12:57pm: The Panthers have gone through with a historically quick benching involving a No. 1 overall pick. With Dave Canales indicating this is not a mere reset effort involving Bryce Young, the 2023 top draftee’s status is in limbo after only 18 starts.
As Andy Dalton prepares to take the reins of an NFC South team’s offense early in a season for the second time in three years, the Panthers are coming to grips with the fact they traded a monster asset package — headlined by D.J. Moore and the 2024 No. 1 overall pick — for a player who is already drifting away from their big-picture plan.
Young is not taking this especially well, as could be expected. The 2021 Heisman winner is “pissed” about the Panthers’ decision, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes. Appeasing veterans — and potentially ownership and the front office — became a key factor here, as the team’s wide receivers were showing considerable frustration early. Young’s long-term development is on hold — potentially for good. This could soon start one of the more shocking QB searches in recent memory, considering the Panthers’ carousel and what they gave up to obtain the Young draft slot.
While Young has performed poorly — for the most part — since Carolina deployed him as its Week 1 starter last season, he was first asked to lead a poorly constructed offense with some conflicting voices in his ear before having to learn Canales’ system this offseason. Considering the dysfunction surrounding the Panthers during David Tepper‘s ownership tenure, many have voiced support for Young despite his shaky on-field work.
It is not known if Young will start again for the Panthers, but Fowler adds the team is not expected to explore an early trade. This would station Young as the backup, barring a Dalton injury, for the season’s remainder. Given the quick hooks involving many passers from the 2021 and 2022 draft classes, Young being elsewhere in 2025 would not be a complete shock. Though, NFL history does not provide many examples of a No. 1 overall pick ditched so soon.
All but one quarterback chosen first overall in the common draft era (1967-present) has remained with his original team at least four seasons. Even the lone exception here — Raiders mega-bust JaMarcus Russell — was given three years before being released in 2010. Among this lot, Jeff George (traded in 1994) and Baker Mayfield are the only other QBs to last fewer than five years with their first NFL franchises. Young being ditched after Year 3 would mark another blow to a Panthers franchise that has sustained many under Tepper’s leadership.
The Panthers still view Young as having the skillset to enjoy a productive NFL career, Fowler adds, making this benching strange due to this season being framed as the 5-foot-10 passer’s bounce-back year. Carolina’s offseason investments came about due to organizational interest in bettering Young’s situation. Despite the Panthers signing Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis to big-ticket contracts and trading for Diontae Johnson, Young has not shown improvement. He ranks last in QBR by a wide margin.
The fallout from this benching could certainly determine Young’s Carolina future, and the Panthers determining they need to start over yet again would cast doubt about the team having the organizational infrastructure necessary to solve this long-running issue. For now, Young remains in the Panthers’ plans.
While it would break with NFL precedent for the Panthers to bail on Young as quickly as the Steelers, Falcons and Titans separated from their 2022 draftees (Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis), those moves certainly show an early divorce is possible. Carolina, of course, would recoup nowhere near the value it gave up to acquire Young if a trade did ultimately come to pass.
I don’t have hope for Young being a good starter, but I also don’t think he’s as bad as he’s looked this year. Those bizarre jump passes are a new low.
Their “big picture plan”?? God only knows how much Tepper’s meddling has screwed this whole franchise up. I don’t think they have a clue as to what Young’s potential could be. Does anybody think Bryce Young in Green Bay or San Francisco would be floundering like this?
I certainly don’t, but I do also feel like he seems physically overmatched without some special ability to overcome it. Not that any potential special abilities have been given a chance to bloom. It’s a mess and I feel for the guy. It seemed coming out like the most special thing about him was his moxie, and damn if this isn’t the franchise most determined in recent memory to crush moxie.
Tepper is definitely a huge part of the problem. The NFL would be better if the Panthers had sold to anyone else. Having been a part owner of the Steelers gave him an advantage. But he’s just a Pittsburgh guy who happens to have all the money in the world. He clearly learned nothing from the most stable employer in professional football. I know finance people who have crossed his path both directly and indirectly, and apparently he’s just about as big an ***hole as you’ll find in all of creation.
Panthers cant cut bait. Trade would go down as possibly 2nd worst trade behind Herschel Walker.
I get Tepper wants to be competitive but he needs to have his coaching staff model their offense like the one he ran at Bama. RPOs, movement, roll outs, play action.
Surprisingly the Panthers oline has been good at pass blocking to start the season but theyre horrendous run blocking and the backs arent producing as a result. Yet we havent really seen things like jet sweeps or sideline to sideline plays to stretch the defense to hopefully open some lanes.
Its a one dimensional offense and the scheming for pass plays isnt even original. When defenses can play 6 dbs and still stop the run you know theres an issue and its not entirely the QBs fault.
The trade itself wasn’t bad, the owner over rolling the GM on the pick was.
I’ll leave it to the future philosophers of the world, but considering that the Broncos needed to sign Wilson for $50M or so, I can’t see how this can be worse than the Wilson trade.
Or the Deshaun Watson trade
Watson might still be a QB some day. Wilson, not so very much.
Wilson had his day. Perfect team, system coach at the time for him. Had success but those days are over.
On the one hand, trading up for that pick, passing on Stroud, and giving up Caleb Williams and DJ Moore (and more!) for Young is incredibly bad. On the other hand, at least they didn’t give up three first round picks and a contract that will hamstring them for years for a sex pest with multiple torn ACLs and a vanishing ability to play quarterback.
I will push back on the popular conception that Stroud was the right pick for Carolina. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Stroud would have been anywhere close to where he is now had he been subjected to an environment where the team’s offensive scheme is riddled with separate incompatible contributors, the front office is markedly incompetent in handling contracts or trades, the environment has been plagued by losing, inconsistency, and a total lack of culture, the newly hired head coach is fired in less than a season, and the roster’s best playmaker is an over 30 slot receiver. That’s before even mentioning the owner’s severe anger issues.
Perhaps Stroud would have fared better-his size probably would help, if nothing else-but the Texans definitely built a better roster, coaching staff, and even culture in the last two years than the Panthers did. The sheer and total lack of anything even close to resembling a stable foundation will ruin any quarterback. I don’t think that Stroud would have made much of a difference for Carolina, but Carolina would have definitely made a difference for Stroud.
I think this is all fair, but only to a point. Obviously we don’t get a control group with any of these guys, and it makes a huge difference to have a strong coaching staff that wants you, a great pass protecting left tackle, etc., but Stroud also came in looking poised, aware, and ready to read the field and respond with a strong, accurate arm. Young has been put in a position to fail in many ways, but he also just seems physically overmatched by the NFL, and he doesn’t really have anything to offset it, like Brees’ accuracy or Murray’s athleticism and arm strength. As always, you can never completely sort out a nature/nurture argument with any individual, and there’s a stark difference in the nurturing, but I think the tools and readiness would have still made a big difference if their situations were reversed.
The Panthers still view Young as having the skillset to enjoy a productive NFL career, Fowler adds
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Of course, Fowler has no idea if that is true or not. There is a -0- chance anyone from the Panthers is going to say Young lacks the skillset to succeed. They’ll be marketing him as a future HOF player.
Interesting. I just raised this question on the original Young article. If I were a writer, I’d ask what the long-term plan is. Bring him back during the season, bring him back next season, or listen to trade offers? It kind of has to be one of those.
Vegas should trade for him and let him sit behind Gardner for a year
I said same thing for Seattle. Young wouldn’t last five seconds in Vegas lol
Al Davis would already have an offer on the table with the intent of having Young sit and get healthy physically and mentally. Get him out of the spotlight and remove all expectations. Learn the pro game and get his fire to play back.
I would trade him. Move on. Don’t waste more time. Draft a QB No 1 overall again.
This draft doesn’t look like it has a quarterback worth 1:1, unfortunately.
Dolphins calling on line 1…
He needs a change of scenery. Panthers are incompetent and haven’t developed anything in years that being Cam. Send Young to Rams they need back up and McVay can get him focused. In today Nfl no qb is too broken, look at Baker he was in the 2 worst situations. He finally found team that accepted who he is.
I say trade him to Seahawks for a couple picks and have him compete for backup job with Howell.
Pass the pipe I want some of what you are smoking!
Here you go!!!
lol…thanks man!
When u wanna have our fantasy chat my man?
They should trade the owner
Trades require partners…
He’s simply not a NFL starting QB♂️ he just isn’t
Why would they explore a trade when his value is nonexistent? That’s even worse than totaling a car completely and then trying to sell it.
Exactly KC. I’m not sure you get a 7th round pick swap out of him right now his value could not be lower. Why not let him sit behind Dalton the team looks like trash anyway and see if he can possibly learn anything. It doesn’t look good but I don’t see the harm until he’s taking up a roster spot on a team that needs it
Don’t forget that Jerry Jones gave the 49ers a fourth round pick for Trey Lance – who was equally viewed as a bust.
shame .. would love to see one of the league’s “premier” qb whisperers work their “magic”
I don’t know if that was an attempt at sarcasm but it seems ludicrous to me that a bit of whispering is all that would be required to turn a QB like Bryce Young or Nathan Peterman into a stud. Occasionally we do see a QB undergo an impressive transformation but these events are rare and usually only last a season. I haven’t seen any “magic” that is sustainable.
Who here thinks Canales is in over his head?
*raises hand*
I also think Bryce is too.
Exactly what can the team expect for value, a 6th-round pick?