As Big Cat says (and I try to give him credit every time I use it), dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things.
The Panthers are currently dysfunctional. And they’ve been doing plenty of dysfunctional things.
Most recently, they pulled the plug on quarterback Bryce Young, sending him to the bench after only 18 regular-season games. While the final decision — regardless of who actually made it — might have been necessary to avoiding a full-blown implosion of the locker room, it’s the culmination of a toxic stew stirred by owner David Tepper.
So what happens next for Young? Coach Dave Canales has said the Panthers aren’t considering trading the first pick in the 2023 draft. They nevertheless should be.
If they/Tepper have decided Young isn’t the guy, get value for the balance of his contract and move on. They/Tepper tried. It didn’t work. To the team’s credit, they/Tepper admitted the mistake in lieu of doubling down.
And they/Tepper didn’t couch the benching as a temporary break or whatever the Jets did when they/Woody sat Zach Wilson during his second season. By all appearances (when viewed through the lens of a properly functioning franchise), the Panthers are done with Young.
If so, they/Tepper should do the right thing by Bryce Young and trade him. Yes, they hold his contractual rights. As if he had any say in the matter. They drafted him. They enhanced the pressure and expectations that come from being the first overall pick by giving up plenty (including the pick that became Caleb Williams) to get him.
They/Tepper believed. Now, they/Tepper don’t. In that case, let the kid try to salvage his career.
Trade him, like the 49ers traded Trey Lance after it became clear that Brock Purdy was the guy. Don’t squat on Young for another year because he’s under a wage-scale rookie deal. If you don’t believe in him, give him a chance to hit the reset button.
Alas, dysfunctional teams are obsessed with things that don’t matter, such as how it might look if Young ends up playing well elsewhere. Look at the Jets. They look foolish for how they mishandled Geno Smith and Sam Darnold, both of whom are finding a much higher level of performance elsewhere.
The Panthers shouldn’t allow such petty concerns to influence their handling of Young. They/Tepper tried. They/Tepper failed. Give the kid a fresh start, even if it means he fulfills elsewhere the potential that prompted them/Tepper to trade up for him.
In benching Bryce Young, the Panthers are hoping for a reset to the young quarterback’s career. The No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft is 0-2 this season and 2-16 in his career as the starter.
Young has three interceptions and no touchdowns this season, so he now gets a chance to sit and watch behind veteran Andy Dalton.
On Thursday, Young talked to the media for the first time since his benching and wouldn’t say whether he thought he got enough time as the starter.
“I don’t think that’s up for me to decide,” Young said, via video from Nick Carboni of WCNC. “Again, there’s a lot of plays for last year and these first two games, and for the most part, every snap hit my hands, and I didn’t do enough with it at the end of the day. I take accountability for that. There’s . . . a long list of stuff I wish I was better at, and I’m going to continue to work to grow and improve on and be better at.
“I’m always going to look in the mirror. Circumstances are what they are, not just me, but for everyone. Everyone is dealing with something. Everyone has circumstances. If I went out there and played better and we won games, at the end of the day that falls on me that that didn’t happen, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Right now I am where I am, and all I can do is try to be better each and every day.”
Young insists he has not lost his confidence despite his struggles.
“I have confidence in myself, always have confidence in myself,” Young said, via video from Ashley Stroehlein of WCNC. “Again, it’s day to day. At the end of the day, I’m a competitor. Whenever there’s a football and there’s a field out there, I have the utmost confidence in myself. It’s been great with these guys too, having teammates that I can lean on as well. That’s not something that’s going to waiver. What the circumstances are, what happens, that’s up for God to decide, and it’s out of my hands. But you know, that feeling isn’t going to change.”
Instead of preparing for Bryce Young this week, the Raiders are now looking at veteran quarterback Andy Dalton as the Panthers come to town on Sunday.
But as head coach Antonio Pierce noted in his Wednesday press conference, Las Vegas has former Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis on staff — who drafted Dalton back in 2011 and coached him for eight seasons.
“Experience,” Pierce said of what Dalton brings to the table. “The good thing about it, we’ve got a gentleman on our staff who drafted him, knows him very well. We played against Andy actually two years ago as well with New Orleans. So, there’s some familiarity with us.
“Obviously, what are they going to do scheme wise just in a couple of days? He’s a vet. I’m sure there’s not too much they can’t throw at him and ask him to do, but I do expect him to be a little bit more efficient, I would think, on third down [because that] is what their issues were. But looking at a guy who is experienced, that knows how to move the ball, move the chains and somehow, some way, when he gets on the field he makes plays. So, we’ve got to be savvy and smart there.”
Though Lewis is familiar with Dalton, Pierce said they won’t lean too heavily on the former Bengals coach because it has been several years since they were together.
“I think what we can do is really get into the mindset, the psyche of the quarterback,” Pierce said. “I mean, he’s been away for some time. It’s really a scouting report at this point. We’re still trying to figure out what Carolina is going to do offensively with Andy, which might be different or may not be different than they did with Bryce.”
In 2022, Dalton completed 67 percent of his passes for 2,871 yards with 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. In his lone start for Carolina last year, he completed 34-of-58 passes for 361 yards with two touchdowns and no picks.
The Panthers added a new linebacker to their active roster on Thursday.
The team announced that they have signed Tarron Jackson to their active roster. They also signed linebacker Eku Leota, who was waived earlier this week, to their practice squad.
Jackson was a 2021 sixth-round pick by the Eagles and he appeared in 21 games for Philadelphia over the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He had 18 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble in those gams, and he also had one tackle in his sole playoff appearance.
The Panthers signed Jackson to their practice squad after he was waived by the Eagles in late August, but he was not elevated to play in either of their first two games this season.
Baker Mayfield and Bryce Young followed a similar path to the NFL as Heisman Trophy winners and first overall draft picks, so there was a connection between them even before Young’s Panthers tenure went off track this week.
Mayfield wasn’t benched in his second year with the Browns, but his time with the team was cut shorter than expected when they traded him to the Panthers in 2022. Mayfield didn’t play well at the end of his time in Cleveland or with Carolina and the Panthers cut him before the year was out, so he faced some of the same questions about his football future that Young is facing right now.
Mayfield answered those questions with the Bucs last year and he said Wednesday that he believes Young will get the same opportunity.
“A lot of the time, guys have the talent, they might have the brains, but they don’t have the right opportunity, the right fit,” Mayfield said at a press conference. “I’m sitting here right now in a way better fit than the other places I’ve been. That’s not to put other teams down, but it’s a matter of the pieces around you, the coaches. For Bryce, a guy that — I can relate to this — finding that belief within yourself again. He’ll get it. His story is far, far from finished.”
Panthers head coach Dave Canales was Mayfield’s offensive coordinator last year and part of the reason he got the job in Carolina was the work he did with Young. The Panthers say they aren’t thinking about trading Young, but it remains to be seen if any future chapters of Young’s story will play out with the Panthers.
