Is Bryce Young the biggest flop in recent NFL history?

Two weeks into the 2024 NFL season, Bryce Young has been benched. The Carolina Panthers are 0-2 in Young’s second year, and new coach Dave Canales has taken evasive action. Young has started 18 games in his, excuse the pub, young career. Last season, the Panthers won just two games, one by a score of 9-7. So far this season, they have a -50 point differential. This is after 47-10 and 26-3 blowout losses to the Saints and Chargers, respectively.

Young’s abysmal performances in both games have led to his benching ahead of their week three matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders. Andy Dalton, like he did last year when Young picked up an injury, will be under centre in his place. But this time, Bryce has no injury. It has spiked the controversy surrounding the Pnathers’ decision to pick Youg number one overall in the draft in 2023. Especially when one, they traded so much capital to move up to the top of the order, and two, CJ Stroud, who was taken after Young, is excelling.

The Panthers traded away their best receiver, DJ Moore, and multiple first and second-round draft picks to the Chicago Bears to move from the ninth pick to the first. This was a calculated risk to select who they thought was their next franchise quarterback. The two most significant prospects going into the draft were Bryce Young and CJ Stroud. Experts could hardly evaluate a massive difference in capabilities and talent. But who would the Panthers go for?

Ultimately, they selected Young, and there were instant concerns about his height. He got away with it in his Alabama days, but the NFL is a whole different sport. In their rookie seasons last year, Stroud showed promise for the Texans as they made a surprise playoff appearance, whilst Young struggled immensely. Stroud’s Texans blew out the Browns in the Wildcard Round before losing to the one-seed Ravens in the Divisional Round. There was a stark contrast between the two rookies, especially when they were tipped to be evenly matched coming out of the draft.

Of course, the tools needed to win a football game go beyond just the quarterback. His lack of support was a considerable component of Bryce Young’s rookie season. He was not surrounded with enough talent and weapons to succeed. Along with this, the coaching was sub-par, which stunted Young’s growth as a player. You cannot rely too heavily on a rookie, but Carolina failed to take some of the impetus away from him. This amalgamated with the Panthers’ poor season and the eventual sacking of Frank Reich midseason.

It is still the early days of Bryce Young’s career, but it could not have started worse. Head coach Canales benched him after just two games because of his ongoing struggles and lack of visible improvement. There is still time for him to turn it around. But, at this point, it seems that owner David Tepper was wrong in selecting Young over Stroud, especially when the latter is doing so well under a better scheme, with good weapons at receiver.

The Carolina Panthers are a warped franchise now; they can’t seem to get anything suitable. Since Ron Riviera lost his job, there has been a high turnover at the head coaching position, and the roster is weak. This, as well as poor draft picks, makes them arguably the worst team and franchise in the NFL. Something needs to change for them, but it is hard to know where to start.