The Carolina Panthers made a significant change just two weeks into the 2024 season when the team decided to bench former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young in favor of Andy Dalton.
Despite Young being benched for Dalton, the veteran quarterback stated his friendship with Young has grown "even stronger" as a result.
"It's meant so much for him to handle the situation the way he has," Dalton said. "And for him to still have so much support for not only me but for this team, I mean he's still doing a lot of the same things he was doing before the switch happened... the type of person he is wasn't going to change based off of this situation, so I've been very appreciative of that. And honestly, everything going on probably made our friendship even stronger because of it."
In the opening two games this season, Young completed 31 of 56 passes (55.4%) for 245 yards and three interceptions. The second-year signal caller struggled in a Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers when he completed 18 of 26 yards for just 84 yards and an interception.
Since Dalton has been under center, the Panthers offense has been more productive. Dalton is completing 65.4% of his passes for 539 yards and five touchdowns, while being picked off just once.
As a result, the Panthers were able to defeat the Las Vegas Raiders 36-22 on Sept. 22, and put up a valiant fight against the Cincinnati Bengals this past weekend in a 34-24 loss.