Things have gone from bad to worse in Carolina, and after only two weeks, Panthers head coach Dave Canales has seen enough. Last year's first overall pick, Bryce Young, has been benched.
It's a startling move that seems surprising from the outside, given how much the Panthers invested in moving up for the rights to select the former Alabama signal caller, but his play through two weeks has left the Panthers with nothing to be excited about.
To recap, here's a breakdown of last year's trade with the Chicago Bears.
Chicago received: Wide receiver DJ Moore, 2023 No. 9 overall pick, 2023 2nd round pick, 2024 1st round pick, 2025 2nd round pick. The 2024 1st round pick that belonged to the Panthers became the first overall pick, which Chicago used on QB Caleb Williams.
Carolina Received: 2023 1st overall pick, which they used on QB Bryce Young.
18 games into Young's career, and he's no longer the Panthers' starting quarterback.
So what went wrong?
Last year, Carolina had very little support for Young. This offseason, they certainly tried to remedy that. Veteran receiver Adam Theilen is back in the fold, they signed Diontae Johnson in free agency, they used the 32nd overall pick on wide receiver Xavier Legette, and used a fourth round pick on tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders.
They tried, but it didn't work.
Through two games, Young looks lost and confused. Gone are what we saw in college, which was a decisive quarterback that knew exactly where to go with the ball. He was labeled as "cerebral," like the type of quarterback that Drew Brees was, often compared to him because of his stature and his mental approach to the game.
This year, Young is far from how his college scouting report read. It's not just that the talent around him isn't great – he's missing some wide open looks.
Hopefully this isn't the end for Young and he can get a chance to resurrect his career, but right now is a very dark day for the Panthers and for Alabama fans that saw Young dominate the college level and win a National Championship in 2020 and the Heisman Trophy in 2021. Carolina now will more, almost certainly, look towards the 2025 NFL draft for another quarterback.
