As Panthers lose and Andy Dalton struggles, Bryce Young keeps saying all the right things
Bryce Young didn’t stand behind a lectern after his team’s 36-10 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday — a place where he’s spoken after games more often than not in his young but battle-tested NFL career.
He instead stood in front of his locker. Fewer frills. A dimmer spotlight. But as the Carolina Panthers’ 2023 overall No. 1 pick was peppered with questions — mainly about the one drive he played on Sunday, coming in relief of a struggling Andy Dalton and as quarterback of an offense in crisis — he did what he’d always done.
He kept saying the right things.
All the safe things.
“Just want to help the team,” Young said in his trademarked soft-spokenness.
When asked about his role week-to-week as a scout-team quarterback: “Got all the faith in the world in our defense. I love our defense. … We go out there and try to compete.”
When asked directly if he wanted to be a starter for the Carolina Panthers again, Young said: “I think that’s out of my control. For me, I’m big on controlling what I can control and showing up tomorrow, ready to learn from watching the tape, in meetings, hearing the coaches evaluate everything, just like we do on every Monday. That’s big-picture stuff that God controls and that’s out of my hands.”
He went on. He said his big play of the day — a 27-yard completion to Miles Sanders after getting flushed from the pocket — was a product of him simply “scrambling” and trying to “get it to Miles’ hands.” He reminded us that he doesn’t find purchase in external motivation.
Even to the most savvy eye, Young avoided saying much he hasn’t already said. But that in itself is something worth noting — the second-year quarterback avoiding saying much of substance as the rest of his world whirls in controversial change.
Young isn’t in an easy position. Neither are the Panthers. Both truths were thrust into the spotlight Sunday — with the Panthers facing the team that, at least at this point, fleeced them in the spring of 2023. In that deal, Carolina gave a slew of its picks and DJ Moore for the top pick in the 2023 draft, which the organization spent on Young and the “Super Bowl” promise his addition offered.
Young’s career, though, started slow. He went 2-14 as a starter and saw the head coach and general manager who drafted him fired before his second year began. This next year brought a renewed hope. The Panthers hired a head coach in Dave Canales who fell in love with the dazzling gifts Young showed in Alabama — as well as a guy who has a track record of using his positivity to rejuvenate quarterbacks who’d previously been robbed of all confidence, a reputation about as valuable as they come in a league so driven by quarterback play.
But Young continued to struggle in Year 2. In fact, he regressed. Then Canales made a bold move by benching Young after Week 2, living with the passionate and ignorant cacophony that such a move elicits, and rode with Andy Dalton.
After he was initially benched, Young said all the right things. He said that him not making the most of his opportunities was “100% on me and no one else” and that “I gotta look in the mirror; I gotta be better.” Coaches applauded his professionalism. He was always engaged in the sideline. Always happy for Dalton’s successes, which came in bunches in Week 3 and 4.
On Sunday, with the game out of hand, Young got in the game. He made a few plays. Failed to make one on fourth-and-short. And that was that. Canales said he got Young in to get some live reps but also to “get Andy out of there” as the offensive line deteriorated under the stress of injury, underscoring the quarterbacks’ stations on the depth chart. He added that Young did a “fantastic job.”
Canales later clarified: “Andy is our quarterback.”
And when asked to clarify about next week, Canales said: “Yes, Andy will be our quarterback next week.”
Meanwhile, Young, when swarmed by media, didn’t cast blame or shed frustration at his role. He stuck to a refrain Panthers fans have heard for 17 months.
“Hats off to them today, they played a great game,” Young said of the Bears postgame. “And again, tomorrow we’ll go in and see what we can do better. But every game in the NFL is important. So you gotta have that mindset.”
It feels like the right thing to say. On Sunday, in this uniquely difficult situation, it felt like the only thing to say, too.
This story was originally published October 7, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
