Cat Scratch Reader
We’re down to single digits in our countdown towards the Carolina Panthers season opener. It’s just over a week away. With their being nine days left, our countdown piece is centered around quarterback Bryce Young.
Young has had himself a career already, and it’s only been two seasons. He was brought in as the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft after the Panthers gave up a haul of draft picks to move up to that spot. This of course came after the Panthers had previously given up not insignificant draft capital to acquire Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield in seasons prior, but I digress. Young entered a situation that was supposed to set him up for success with a veteran “all star” coaching staff. Instead, an antiquated offensive philosophy, lack of chemistry among the coaching staff, and a roster held together by toothpicks and glue caused the season to implode around Young, whose own poor play didn’t help anything.
It didn’t get better in year two, or so we thought. Head coach Dave Canales was supposed to revive Young the way he did Baker Mayfield in Tampa. Instead, Bryce looked worse in the first two games of his sophomore season than he did at any point in his rookie year. He got benched for veteran backup Andy Dalton.
He made his way back into the starting lineup for the last half of the season. His return wasn’t marked by any pop or breakout performance, but he improved pretty noticeably week over week. Outside of a blip against the Dallas Cowboys, Young got better with each start, culminating in what was probably the best game of his career to close out the season against the Atlanta Falcons.
Now Young enters the season as the unquestioned starter at quarterback, and this time there are expectations. It’s fair to be hesitant about Young’s ability to elevate this team into playoff contention. We’ve only seen that caliber of quarterback in a small sample, and it took a long ramp up to get there at the end of the season when there was no pressure. The Panthers have continued to beef up the talent around Young to give him every opportunity to succeed. He rewarded them with good play to end last season. Now it’s time to prove he can do it from the jump.
