The Panthers got blown out by the Commanders on Sunday, but they didn’t use the 40-7 loss as a chance to get quarterback Bryce Young some playing time in place of the struggling Andy Dalton.
Dalton threw two interceptions in the first quarter and had just 93 passing yards, but he remained into the game until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Young came in for one series and the Panthers lost four yards on his two completions.
On Monday, Canales was asked several questions about Young during his press conference. He called questions about whether the Panthers would consider trading Young “hypotheticals” that were better posed to General Manager Dan Morgan and executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tillis and used the same word when asked if the Panthers feel they need to see Young play again before making a determination about whether he’s part of their future.
“Right now we’re focused on the Broncos,” Canales said. “Andy’s playing this week and that’s really where our focus is at. All those other conversations are all hypothetical conversations that definitely Dan and Brandt, we have to have, but right now we’re focused on playing the Broncos and getting Andy to take another step in terms of getting us back to playing good football.”
Canales was also asked if the team has lost confidence in Young.
“This is about Andy Dalton,” Canales said. “This is about playing the Broncos. This is about taking strides with our group that we have in and that’s really where the focus is.”
Canales said that questions about the team’s plans for Young are “not unfounded” before repeating that his focus is on the upcoming game against the Broncos and how to get the whole team playing better football than we’ve seen in the first seven weeks. It’s clear they don’t think Young is part of the answer to that question right now and there was little from Canales on Monday to suggest that view will be changing anytime soon.
