The Panthers, the worst team in football last year by a country mile, somehow managed to get even worse in 2024. Not having a first-round pick makes things tough, but this rendition of Carolina is just as unwatchable as the last. And at the center of it all is Bryce Young, the top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, who finds himself not only at a career crossroads just 18 games into the season but flat-out benched two games into the year for 36-year-old veteran Andy Dalton.
Reading between the tea leaves you can tell just how dysfunctional things are in Carolina right now: long-time beat writer Joe Person of The Athletic was tweeting about "losing the locker room," and offseason addition Diontae Johnson is not-so-subtly kicking the first-year coaching staff under the bus in the wake of a humiliating home opener against the Chargers.
Head coach Dave Canales endorsed Young immediately after the game saying, "Bryce is our quarterback" ... only to bench him less than 24 hours later. The Panthers let it leak out that benching Bryce was a decision made by Canales and GM Dan Morgan, which is just an absolutely insane agenda to feel the need to push, but everything is on the table when David Tepper owns your team. Of course, Canales, when asked what role Tepper played in this decision, said he would "keep that private," which is kind of code for Tepper being heavily involved.
It felt like the Panthers -- and Tepper in particular -- made some strides this offseason in terms of not being a total disaster, and maybe Dalton will turn things around and make the Panthers slightly more competitive than they have been. But benching the No. 1 overall pick, especially one who required such capital to acquire, 18 games into his career is an abject nightmare.
What a mess.
Just how terrible is this Panthers team? The last time the Panthers held a LEAD in an NFL game was November of 2023 and it only lasted 10 seconds. No, that's not a typo, Michael Scott. It happened the week after the Thursday fiasco against Tyson Bagent and the Bears on "Thursday Night Football" last year (leading many, including myself, to suggest the Panthers have a David Tepper Problem). Carolina scored a -- gasp! -- offensive touchdown to take a 10-7 third quarter led over the Buccaneers. It lasted as long as it takes Mike Evans to run 75 yards into the end zone, which is apparently 10 seconds. Two weeks later, they beat the Falcons but Eddy Pinerio's kick went through the upright as time expired. They led for zero seconds and won! Truly amazing stuff.
They haven't held a lead since. And 2024 has been particularly bleak. The Saints -- who might just be good on offense this year -- obliterated Carolina from start to finish. New Orleans' offense was enjoyable to see, but the game was unwatchable thanks to the Panthers' lifeless response. If you watched a second after New Orleans entered half with a 30-3 lead, you're either a passionate Panthers fan or you bet some really weird Saints alt lines. Either way, seek help.
Sunday against the Chargers, Carolina found a deeper shelf in this never-ending crvace. Watching a Jim Harbaugh-coached team choke the life out of an inferior opponent is fun in it's own sick, twisted way, but it was just sad to see how inept the Panthers offense and Young were in this game. Bryce was pressured at the lowest rate of any quarterback who started in Week 2 and still managed three points and, AHEM, 84 passing yards on 26 attempts.
When he was pressured, the results were disastrous. On Carolina's second possession of the game, the Chargers got the Panthers in third-and-5 and dialed up a blitz, loading up the line of scrimmage and bringing six men at Young. The Panthers quarterback got pressured, was flushed out to his left, drifted towards the sideline and took one of the more unnecessary sacks you will ever see. Throw this ball away, my guy!
There was no one open, so Young did the "right" thing by not forcing a pass into coverage.
But taking a sack there just shows how mentally broken he is at this point. His third-and-2 throw in the flat to Adam Thielen later in the game was borderline Knoblauchian. He has zero confidence to the point when he was asked about his level of confidence in his game, he said his "confidence is in the Lord." A fantastic sentiment and all, but the Big Guy might have a few slightly more important matters on his plate in 2024 than fixing the Panthers offense.
Enter Dalton, and the question is whether or not he can fix Carolina's offense. Sportsbooks seem to think he'll help -- after Dalton was named the starter for the Panthers in Las Vegas this weekend, the total climbed almost three points (from 37.5 to 40) and the Panthers went from 7.5-point dogs to 5.5-point dogs. Tough scene for Bryce.
Dalton will definitely steady the ship; I'm just not entirely confident he will elevate it. Not because he's a 36-year-old veteran who had resigned himself to being a backup the rest of his career. But because I also have questions about this offense as whole.
Let's revisit the play above as an example of how the offense could still fail moving forward.
Let's also operate on the presumption that Young can't check into a variety of plays at the line of scrimmage. Why? Well, we know Baker Mayfield -- a veteran -- was given "a maximum of two plays he can check to at the line of scrimmage based on what he's seeing from the defense" in Tampa Bay while Canales was OC in 2023.
There is almost no chance Young was given more than two plays, and it wouldn't be surprising if he needed to run the only play Canales called at this stage of his career.
To wit, Young got lined up and it was very obvious and clear the Chargers were bringing heat his way.
At this point, Young needs either a check or a hot route or something to get the ball out quick. The Panthers have numbers in the secondary and plenty of one-on-one matchups. Worst case it's drop coverage and Young won't be under siege. I would assume Dalton has more freedom to move into other plays than Young based on his experience, which would make a pretty huge difference, especially with Dalton's veteran eyes diagnosing the defense.
Young also had a chance to get the ball out quick to Thielen on this play and maybe that's something Dalton does as well, potentially picking up the first down and keeping the drive alive. At the very least, Dalton isn't taking some huge shot along the sideline. There's an obvious chance for improvement right there.
Dalton probably isn't throwing the interception Young threw in the second quarter either. Following a first-down run of 11 yards by Chuba Hubbard with about four minutes left in the second quarter -- one that netted the Panthers their first first down of the entire game -- Young tried to jam a throw into double coverage and well, just, no.
You can see what he's trying to do by hitting Diontae Johnson cutting across the middle and throwing in anticipation of where his wideout will be. But he fixated on that spot and he's got a cornerback and a driving safety licking their chops at where this pass is headed.
Three plays later, J.K. Dobbins rumbled 43 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-0. The game was over before halftime.
And that's the other thing here. The Panthers defense isn't very good. The roster as a whole is a bottom-tier roster. I'm not besmirching the players either, per se; it's just what happens when you trade away good players for Day 2 picks and send away Day 1 picks (and a good player, hello D.J. Moore!) for a quarterback who is already benched.
Dalton won't be worse. But he isn't going to save the day. And this quick hook for Young is hard to separate from the equally quick hooks we've seen for both coaches -- Ron Rivera got a courtesy season, Matt Rhule's contract might still be getting paid if Nebraska hadn't swooped in and Frank Reich was the living embodiment of the Abe Simpson restaurant GIF -- and quarterbacks -- Baker Mayfield was traded in his first season, Sam Darnold kind of lasted two years, Matt Corral never played a snap, Cam Newton got an encore cameo ...
Hell, the Panthers gave Teddy Bridgewater $63 million in free agency and dumped him the next offseason and I nearly forgot about it.
And if this is IT for Bryce Young in Carolina -- and I'm not convinced it is just yet -- this will be the worst miss of them all. The Panthers gave up multiple first- and second-round picks, one of which they haven't even sent to the Bears yet, plus Moore to get Young on the team. If he only plays 18 games for Carolina and then is shipped somewhere else, it's probably the worst quarterback draft selection of the new CBA era. And, quite honestly, for what Carolina paid and who it passed on in C.J. Stroud, it could go down as worse than JaMarcus Russell. That's wild to write down but not even that hot of a take.
We can go down the road of Young reviving his career with Mike McDaniel or some other offensive guru later, maybe even this season if Tua Tagovailoa has to miss extended time with his latest concussion and the Dolphins are willing to surrender a decent pick. I doubt that happens.
In a perfect world, this is a chance for Young to let some air out of the balloon and get into a better headspace. He could end up starting games again this year, maybe as early as Halloween if Dalton is a debacle.
And I get it. The Panthers had to do something. Keep playing Young and keep looking like this and everyone is getting fired after the season and maybe even sooner. But if recent history is any indication, this latest move by Carolina is just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.