Panthers camp breakdown: Bryce Young’s chemistry with DJ Chark tested in red-zone drills
The Panthers held their shortest practice of the summer (so far) on Tuesday, as rookie quarterback Bryce Young faced off against the Carolina defense in red-zone drills throughout a large portion of the workout.
Young — who made a handful of impressive throws in 7-on-7 drills — had what has become a typical practice performance for him throughout the early days of camp. In 11-on-11 drills, he was fairly accurate, but he still made a couple of notable mistakes, including an interception for a fourth consecutive workout.
Overall, Young has been efficient and consistent, but he’s yet to really have a flawless performance to this point. While it seems like the offense is still behind the defense after five practices, Young and his unit can easily gain their footing over the next few days and weeks, as the rookie quarterback continues to learn from his mistakes during practice.
TRAINING CAMP PRACTICE RECAPS: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
Red-zone drills test Bryce Young’s decision-making
The Panthers started 11-on-11 work with typical open field drills.
Young got off to a strong start with a sharp throw to wideout Adam Thielen with pressure coming from the right side of the pocket. During the rep, Young stepped up in the pocket and zoomed a ball right into Thielen’s hands for a lead-off completion. Young then flung a swing pass to running back Raheem Blackshear, who caught the ball despite its placement being a tad behind him.
Young started the 11-on-11 work with a 3-of-4 line after hitting wideout Terrace Marshall over the middle and slightly overextending an out-route throw to rookie Jonathan Mingo toward the right sideline. The pass was just a bit out of Mingo’s reach for an incompletion.
From there, Young led 7-on-7 red-zone work. He made an excellent throw to a diving DJ Chark in the end zone for a touchdown. Then, following a brutal drop by wideout Shi Smith, Young went back to Chark for an impressive throw on a crossing route for a score.
Young later had excellent placement on a dart throw in the end zone to tight end Hayden Hurst. Young’s chemistry with Chark and Hurst has been building throughout the last three practices.
Young also went back to Hurst to start the second phase of 11-on-11 work. During that sequence, Young made a common target of fellow tight end Ian Thomas as well.
Young completed three consecutive passes to Hurst, wideout Laviska Shenault and Thomas — in that order — to begin the second set of 11-on-11 drills. The throw to Thomas — the third consecutive completion — was a beauty, as Young fit the ball in a tight-coverage window to tight end on a crossing route toward the sideline. The ball evaded diving pass-breakup machine, safety Vonn Bell, and made its way safely to Thomas’s grasp.
After starting 6-of-8 in 11-on-11 work, Young felt immense pressure from a blitz and tossed a low ball to Mingo, who dove to make the play but was unable to haul in the off-the-mark pass. With pressure in Young’s face, last year’s first-round pick, left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, and Pro Bowl pass rusher Brian Burns got into a brief shoving match with both players needing to be separated. Ekwonu was so amped following the tussle that he jumped offsides the very next play.
Following several reps for the second- and third-team groups, the Panthers moved back into the red zone. Young was forced to throw away his first pass in the general area of Thielen due to pressure. He then hit Thomas with a jumping toss to the right sideline.
Young followed up that completion with his daily interception play. He looked for Thomas in the corner of the end zone after being forced to hold the ball for a bit. He launched the ball to the left corner of the end zone and cornerback Keith Taylor (more on him later) jumped in front of the pass for the pick. Young ended drills with one more throwaway to end his day.
Ultimately, Young completed 8 of 13 passes (61.5%) with an interception in 11-on-11 drills. It was a similar performance to his three previous outings, completing more than 60% of his passes while having the occasional misfire and an interception.
Following practice, Young was asked what he saw on the interception play.
“Just bad ball placement and late throw,” Young said. “Again, that’s 100% on me and stuff I need to learn from.”
Through five practices, Young has completed 41 of 61 passes (67.2%) with four interceptions in 11-on-11 drills.
Keith Taylor is building momentum
With CJ Henderson sidelined with a groin injury, someone needed to step up at cornerback over the past two practices. Third-year cornerback Keith Taylor was happy to take on the assignment, as proof by his impressive output this week.
After producing a couple of highlights during the two previous workouts, Taylor made an excellent heads-up play on the interception of Young in the end zone. He saw the ball heading toward Thomas and the cornerback took a chance that paid off.
“Feel great about the cornerback depth,” Panthers head coach Frank Reich said. “Great play by Keith. He’s strung a couple good days together now, as you guys have seen and I think you’ve noted. That’s what we’re looking for. I mean the play he made today in the red zone was really nice. Made a couple of nice plays the other day in the stadium here. We need that competition, we need that depth — unfortunately in this league, at every position, we’ve gotta have that. And this is the time of year that we can develop that to the fullest.”
Taylor had an up-and-down season last year. But with Henderson and undrafted rookie Rejzohn Wright out of action, he’s been given the opportunity to shine and take advantage of his run with the first-team defense.
PBUs and drops prevalent during team drills
The Panthers’ secondary is starting to make big plays regularly in team drills.
During 7-on-7 work, nickel corner Jeremy Chinn made an excellent play on a throw from Young to Thielen for a pass breakup. Cornerback Jaycee Horn followed up that breakup with one of his own against Thomas. A few plays later, safety Xavier Woods ruined a potential connection between Young and Hurst.
Later on during 11-on-11 work, cornerback Mark Milton destroyed what would have been an impressive highlight play for wideout Josh Vann. Third-string quarterback Matt Corral tossed the ball to Vann on a crossing route, and the wideout locked the ball in with an outreached right hand. However, before Vann could complete the catch, Milton came up from behind and knocked the ball loose.
Along with the pass breakups, the offense had a couple of catching miscues as well.
Wideout Shi Smith had a rough drop on a 7-on-7 pass from Young. A few plays later, a Young pass bounced off the hands of running back Spencer Brown.
Tight end Giovanni Ricci also had a wide-open drop off a pass from Corral during 11-on-11 work.
Due to the rapid-fire nature of the team-drill period, there’s going to be a blunder or three during a workout. Still, this was one of the sloppier workouts for the offense.
Quick hits
▪ During an 11-on-11 red-zone rep, Young made the decision to run with the ball instead of tossing it away due to pressure in the pocket. Young picked up a couple of yards before running out of bounds. A fan behind the practice field gate reacted by loudly declaring, “I don’t want to see him running at all, man.”
▪ The play of the day was probably a highlight produced by the second-team offense during 7-on-7 drills. Veteran backup quarterback Andy Dalton tossed a deep shot to wideout Gary Jennings for a huge touchdown completion of roughly 30 yards.
▪ Rookie highlight alert! Third-round pick DJ Johnson has had a quiet start to camp. But the rookie outside linebacker made a nice play during second-team 11-on-11 work on Tuesday. Johnson batted down a Dalton pass at the line and received loud praise from the sideline after the whistle blew.
▪ Injury update: As previously mentioned, Henderson (groin) and Rejzohn Wright (undisclosed) were missing from practice. Wright was sidelined Monday, while Henderson injured himself midway through the first practice of the week.
Edge rusher Marquis Haynes (back) was seen on the field working with a trainer during the workout. Running back Camerun Peoples (undisclosed) was a new presence on the adjacent injury field, while defensive end Antwuan Jackson — who missed the previous two practices with an undisclosed issue — returned to the workout with the defensive line group.
▪ PUP list update: The Panthers’ physically unable to perform (PUP) group shrunk from four to three players on Tuesday following the waiving of defensive tackle John Penisini (calf). Guards Austin Corbett (ACL) and Chandler Zavala (hamstring), as well as defensive lineman Jalen Redmond (undisclosed), were all seen at practice. Zavala and Redmond worked with Peoples on the adjacent field.
▪ Linebacker Arron Mosby was waived along with Penisini before practice. The two players were cut to make room for former Falcons and Browns linebacker Deion Jones and former Patriots defensive tackle Nick Thurman, who were officially signed before the workout.
▪ Running back Chuba Hubbard had a trio of strong runs during team drills. He looks noticeably bigger and is running with authority through contact during practice.
▪ The Panthers continue to rotate offensive linemen within the first-, second- and third-team groups. Rookie guard Nash Jensen will be a player to watch in the preseason.
▪ The Panthers’ next training camp practice will be on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium for the annual Fan Fest event. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased on the team’s website.
More training camp reading at charlotteobserver.com:
▪ How Panthers lineman went from loading Amazon trucks to signing with hometown team
▪ ‘I need to be here’: Brian Burns on why he’s at Panthers training camp during contract talks
▪ Panthers’ CJ Henderson discusses Carolina’s decision to pass on his fifth-year option
▪ Panthers’ Thompson says new teammate is playing so well he needs to be on the field
▪ Protecting Bryce Young is vital. The good news? Panthers have NC’s own Ickey Ekwonu
▪ Exclusive: Hall of Fame GM Bill Polian on pros, cons of rookie Panthers QB Bryce Young
▪ Bryce Young needs a secret weapon for Panthers. A fellow rookie could fill that role
This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 2:47 PM.
