Few outside of those closest to Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young saw just how much it bothered the No. 1 pick of the 2023 draft when coach Dave Canales benched him after an 0-2 start last season.
Canales acknowledged early in training camp Young didn’t agree with the decision, but he doesn’t want to talk about the mending process now. Neither does Young.
Both are focused on what the third-year player can do in the upcoming season, which begins Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Everbank Stadium (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
“Really, I’m not looking back at last year,” Canales said. “I could just tell you where we’re at now. We’ve got a great leader who’s making sure the tempo is right, making sure the attitude’s right, the energy is right.
“He knows how to win. I just love the way he’s affecting us all.”
Canales has worked to repair any possible damage to his relationship with the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama. A big step occurred in June when he took his daughters to Young’s foundation event in Charlotte and stayed the entire time, something Young and his family noticed and appreciated.
He has said the right things about Young’s strong finish to last season and how that has carried over to training camp. He and general manager Dan Morgan have improved the supporting cast around Young, using the No. 8 pick of the draft on wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan a year after using the last pick of the first round on wide receiver Xavier Legette.
Now it’s up to Young to produce after going 6-22 his first two seasons.
“At the end of the day we have the same goal,” Young said of his relationship with Canales. “We’ve always had the same goal. So at the end of the day it was always to win, always to get better. I always want to grow.”
History is favorable for Young. Twelve of the 18 quarterbacks selected No. 1 over the past 25 seasons had a winning record in their third season. That includes Carolina’s Cam Newton in 2013, who went 12-4 after going 13-19 his first two seasons.
Ten of them made the playoffs. One, Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams, reached the Super Bowl.
So it’s possible Young’s strong finish to 2024 was a precursor of what’s to come. It’s also possible Young could take a step backwards like Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the top pick of the 2021 draft, did in his third season.
Lawrence went 8-8 and threw 14 interceptions to 21 touchdowns a year after going 9-8 and throwing 25 touchdowns to eight picks.
To his credit, Young rebounded from losing the starting job to help lead the Panthers to a 2-1 finish.
He performed so well that Jaguars coach Liam Cohen jumped on the bandwagon of those comparing Young’s game to that of NBA star Stephen Curry.
“I always kind of thought he had some Steph Curry-ish ability as a quarterback where he can distribute it,” said Cohen, who saw Young twice last season as the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “I mean, he improved a ton last year.
“So when they’re able to run it and get their mid-zone going and get him kind of on the move and playing the position, he can be dangerous.”
Young was dangerously close to being forgotten last season. Were it not for a car accident during Week 8 that sidelined veteran Andy Dalton there’s no guarantee Young would have gotten a second chance.
Now teams like the Jaguars are game planning for him.
“Our rush plan has got to be extremely coordinated,” Cohen said. “We’ve got to understand he wants to escape at times, and he does have a quick release.”
Young’s teammates saw those traits rise to another level after Young was benched. Wide receiver David Moore credits Canales for “never giving up on [Young]” as key.
“He just let Bryce grow into the quarterback he wants him to be, guiding him and letting him grow, which was amazing to see,” Moore said.
Moore never saw Young upset during that process. Neither did guard Robert Hunt.
“He is one of a kind, man, his character and who he is as a man,” Hunt said. “I probably would have cried. He was impressive.”
Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow, whose career was nearly ended by a battle with ulcerative colitis, talked to Young about dealing with adversity. He wasn’t with the Panthers last season, but even from afar he was impressed.
“It was inspiring,” Renfrow said.
Canales liked that his quarterback continued to lead even when he wasn’t starting. Young was always one of the first to congratulate teammates after big plays and to console them after losses.
“He revealed a lot of character in that process,” Canales said. “He stayed in front of the team. He did not take a seat in the back and just kind of let this thing play out. He was sending a message very clearly to me that this is my team.”
So when Young got the job, he already had the respect of teammates — and Canales, who called the “mutual respect” the two share key to moving forward.
That Morgan and Canales were willing to trade veteran Adam Thielen, Young’s most trusted receiver the past two seasons, showed just how much they believe Young has matured.
“The stuff he had to go through, the adversity of his first years in the league, you don’t wish that on anybody,” Thielen said after being traded last week to his homestate Minnesota Vikings. “For him to handle that, and to where he is right now, it just says a lot about his character and who he is and what kind of player he’s going to be in this league.”
Young appears empowered by overcoming being benched. He is even talking trash in practice more than ever.
“He just has a defiance in him,” Canales said.
Ultimately, Young will be judged on wins and performance. He can’t open against Jacksonville the way he did in last year’s 47-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints, in which he completed 13 of 30 pass attempts for 161 yards and two interceptions with no touchdowns.
In many ways, Young is at a crossroads in his career.
“It’s a super pivotal year for the team,” Young said when asked about this season. “That’s what matters, the team success. We take it game by game, but our goal is to win, and that’s the most important thing to me.”
