Bryce Young has thrown an INT for 4 practices in a row. Should Panthers be concerned?
It was one of those difficult throws, one in which a quarterback is trying to sling the ball to the far sideline just out of the reach of the cornerback but to a receiver who is almost out of room on the sideline.
On Tuesday, Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Bryce Young flubbed it, throwing the ball within reach of cornerback Keith Taylor Jr. instead of to where only tight end Ian Thomas could catch it.
Taylor happily intercepted the ball and took off the other way in what has been one of the themes lately at the Panthers’ training camp. Tuesday became the fourth practice in a row where Young threw an interception when the Panthers were in an 11-on-11 pseudo-scrimmage (no tackling, but about as real as it gets at this stage of camp).
So are the Panthers concerned with Young’s picks?
In a word, no.
In fact, coach Frank Reich would say later, this wasn’t a bad thing at all.
“This is the stage where you have to try things out,” Reich said. “We’re gonna tell (Young): ‘Hey, challenge yourself. See if you can put the ball in that place in that window against that coverage.’ We need to find those things out now.”
In this case, it didn’t work.
“Just bad ball placement and late throw,” Young said. “So, again, that’s 100 percent on me and stuff I can learn from.”
But Young also made a number of sharp throws in red-zone drills and has seemed to particularly develop an affinity for wide receiver DJ Chark and tight end Hayden Hurst. I’ve seen only one throw so far that was a major concern — in Monday’s practice, where Young panicked while under pressure and threw a ball up the middle that had no receiver within 15 yards. Linebacker Frankie Luvu greedily intercepted that one, too.
But that’s going to happen every now and then, and Panthers fans will need to resign themselves to it if they want to survive the season. What’s going on with Young in training camp on a small scale — it happens to the best of them. Peyton Manning threw 28 interceptions in his rookie year. Troy Aikman started as a rookie for a Dallas team that went 1-15.
It won’t be all rainbows and butterflies early for Young. As former Panthers general manager Bill Polian, a Hall of Famer, told me recently about Young: “He’s going to struggle, as all rookies do. But I think he will grow and be better — at the end of the year.”
Where Reich has been happiest so far with Young is his off-the-field work with teammates as the team bonds 75 miles from Charlotte. He said Young is improving in “literally everything. The way he’s handling the huddle. How he’s getting through progressions. ... The way he leads on and off the field.”
“There’s the practice field and there’s the meetings,” Young said. “but there’s always that extra. ... That’s really what separates people. By no means am I there. I’m just doing my best to get to that level. ... Those little things that can push from good to great.”
As he grows more comfortable in the Carolinas, Young is also loosening up with the media, too. He described his favorite Bojangles biscuit Wednesday (“Bo-Berry”), his brief experiences doing DoorDash deliveries at Alabama (“it was before NIL”) and his recent rookie talent-show warbling of Keyshia Cole’s song “Love” (“I lack a lot in the singing department so I tried to make up with it in the performance.”)
So there’s a lot going on for Young, and to only focus on the interceptions is too simplistic. He’s making progress, but it’s going to take a while. Maybe a year or two.
“You throw enough down there, you’re going to have some good ones and some bad ones,” Reich said.
Exactly. This is Young’s rookie year. Those wanting him to become a savior quickly will be wise to remember that.
This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 2:03 PM.
