Panthers General Manager Scott Fitterer denied the team has informed Bryce Young they are selecting him with the first overall selection. Fitterer said Tuesday the evaluation process “is not done, and it won’t be done until later this week.”
Young, though, remains the betting favorite to hear his name called to open the 2023 draft.
The one concern about Young is his size as he stands only 5 foot 10, and he weighed 204 at the combine after Alabama listed him at 194 last season.
Fitterer has no reservations about Young’s size, comparing him to Russell Wilson, who stands 5 foot 11. Fitterer was in the Seahawks’ front office when they drafted Wilson in the third round in 2012.
“When Russell Wilson came out, he had three balls batted down his senior year; Bryce had two,” Fitterer said Tuesday during a pre-draft news conference, via Steve Reed of the Associated Press. “It doesn’t seem to be an issue. When you grow up a shorter quarterback, you learn how to evolve your game and adapt and see the field, and he’s done that.”
Wilson also weighed 204 pounds at the combine but has added 15 pounds in the NFL.
“Nutritionally we can do some things to educate him, get him in the weight room,” Fitterer said of Young. “When you look at his lower body, it has gotten bigger. He’s put on a lot of mass down there. A lot of times quarterbacks don’t want to lift on the upper body because you get a little bound up [up top]. But he’s going to naturally put on size as he ages as well.”
Young visited only the Panthers and the Texans, who hold the second pick, and the Panthers said nothing during Tuesday’s availability that signaled they were leaning any direction other than Young. Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis are the other top quarterback prospects.
Fitterer said he and head coach Frank Reich will have final say over the No. 1 pick.