Panthers rookie QB Bryce Young’s light preseason workload doesn’t concern him. Should it?
Bryce Young has thrown a dozen passes combined in his first two preseason games. And while the rookie quarterback has shown flashes of what made the Panthers fall in love with him as a draft prospect, Young hasn’t been able to find a consistent rhythm during the exhibition slate.
Part of the blame for that lack of efficiency is on the offensive line’s inability to consistently keep defenders away from the 5-foot-10, 204-pound quarterback. The other variable is simply a lack of prolonged reps.
Young played just two series against the New York Giants on Friday. His first series led to a three-and-out, while his second drive was a plodding, penalty paced field-goal scoring trek. Young completed 3 of 6 passes for 35 yards at MetLife Stadium, besting his 21-yard output from the preseason opener against the New York Jets.
With one preseason game left on the schedule — a matchup that he might not even play in — Young has been on the field for just five drives in two meaningless contests.
“It’s limited opportunities, but you’ve got to make those count,” Young said Friday after the loss to the Giants. “I think just listening to coaches stressing urgency of every situation, every down. Then, you get a limited amount of reps in the preseason, but you have to make them count and because of that, there’s a lot of emphasis, a lot of strain to be the best we can. ... We try to be perfect and you’re never going to get there.
“We understand at the end of the day, it’s been a limited amount of passes but we try to treat those passes like it’s the last one you get, especially in the preseason since it’s just so limited. So, just kind of having that sense of urgency is something that we’re really trying to stress.”
Young has thrown for 56 yards while completing 7 of 12 passes in his first preseason. He has been sacked twice and hit (hard) on a handful of occasions during his brief time between the lines.
With a preseason finale at home against the Detroit Lions, Young might skip the matchup, as the coaching staff and front office look to field a healthy squad in Week 1 of the regular season. But that decision could come at the cost of building much-needed chemistry with his offensive line and playmakers.
“I’m going to trust the coaches,” Young said. “Honestly, I don’t know what the procedure is and again, I know coaches are different. I full wholeheartedly trust the coaches and whatever their decision is. We haven’t talked about or discussed anything, but whatever Coach (Frank) Reich wants me to do and thinks is going to be best for me and for the team, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Reich, to his credit, isn’t ruling anything out ahead of the week of practice.
The Panthers will review the film of the Giants loss this weekend, return to the practice field for four straight days of workouts and go from there.
“I’m not going to say anything 100% sure, but right now the plan is for everybody to get ready to play, and the plan’s for everybody to get ready to play,” Reich said. “We’ll see how they come out of this game injury-wise, we’ll talk about it as a coaching staff, and see what do we need to accomplish.
“If I feel like we need to accomplish something — as a coaching staff — if we feel like there’s things we need to accomplish in one more preseason game, then we’ll play the guys that need to be in there for that. If I feel like we’re ready, then we won’t play those guys.”
