CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Headed to a practice as the QB2 for one of the few times in his life Wednesday afternoon, Bryce Young paused for a fan who asked if he’d stop for an autograph.
“Yeah, I got you,” Young said.
As Young signed the souvenir program and football, the man told him, “Keep your head up, man.”
And with that, the former Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama continued his walk toward the practice fields to run the Carolina Panthers’ scout team. This is not what anyone envisioned 17 months ago when Roger Goodell announced Young as the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Two days after Dave Canales said he was benching Young, it was back to work for the Panthers with Andy Dalton stepping in at quarterback and Young playing the role of Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew.
Bryce Young signs an autograph on his way into practice. Fan encourages him to keep his head up. pic.twitter.com/Y4D0vBfMvc
— Joe Person (@josephperson) September 18, 2024
“It’s tough for everyone. It’s tough for a competitor, an athlete. But at the end of the day, you can take it one of two ways,” wide receiver Adam Thielen said. “You can take it in a positive way and show up and sling the ball all over the field like he did today and impress all of us by his character and his leadership.”
“It wasn’t by chance that he’s a captain of this football team,” Thielen added. “It was not just a hand-it-out C on his jersey. It was a voted-on thing.”
Canales had a little more to say Wednesday on the quarterback change, but still didn’t go into the details behind the decision. The first-year coach made the switch in the wake of Young’s 84-yard passing performance in Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The downfield passing game was nonexistent: Young’s longest completion was a 12-yarder to tight end Tommy Tremble. Frustrations boiled over in the third quarter when Thielen started yelling after Young left a clean pocket and was sacked on a play when Thielen was open.
Thielen downplayed the idea his outburst — which he said was not directed at Young specifically — could have played a role in Canales’ thinking. “It looks bad, and that’s why I apologized to Bryce,” he said. “Because it looks like I’m frustrated at him. But that just boiled over.”
Young was 2-16 as a starter, the worst record for a first-round quarterback in the Super Bowl era through his first 18 starts. It’s worth noting a couple of the guys right behind Young on the list — Troy Aikman and Trevor Lawrence, both of whom were 3-15 — turned things around.
Despite the quick hook, Canales said the Panthers aren’t looking to trade Young, whose college track record and team-friendly rookie contract could make him attractive to a team in need of a quarterback.
“It’s not something we’re really considering,” Canales said. “We have a great situation with our quarterbacks right now, with guys that have experience. We love where we’re at and we’re all hands on deck.”
The Panthers would be selling low on Young, who might not command more than the fourth-round pick the Dallas Cowboys gave up last year for Trey Lance, the former San Francisco 49ers QB who was the No. 3 pick in 2021.
Canales said he and his staff will continue to work with Young, who Canales said “absolutely can still be a franchise quarterback.”
“This is a developmentally minded program, so the development didn’t stop,” Canales said. “Every rep he’s out there, we’re evaluating the whole thing, having conversations and just continuing to push all of our guys, including Bryce, to take that next step.”
Miles Sanders can relate to what Young is going through.
The former Philadelphia Eagles running back came to Charlotte in 2023 on a four-year, $25 million contract, the richest for a running back that offseason. By Week 6, Sanders lost his starting job to Chuba Hubbard. Several weeks later, the Panthers fired head coach Frank Reich and running backs coach Duce Staley, both of whom were instrumental in his signing with the Panthers.
“I was in his same situation last year, and I’m still here,” Sanders said.
“It’ll leave scars on anybody. But it’s gonna make or break you,” he added. “I don’t get that from Bryce. I don’t think he’s gonna back down. He’s still very much involved with us. He’s still talking with us on the field … telling us the scheme of what is being said in the quarterback room. I think everything is gonna play out the way it’s supposed to play out.”
Required reading
(Photo of Dave Canales and Bryce Young: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
