09-17-2024, 07:45 PM -
• The Carolina Panthers’ race to the bottom continued Monday with the benching of 2023 No. 1 pick Bryce Young, mere hours after the quarterback taken a spot behind him, C.J. Stroud, lit up the Sunday night stage in leading the Houston Texans to a 19–13 win over the Chicago Bears.
Make no mistake, benching a player in which you made that type of investment this early in his career is a decision that will be reverberate, and could not have been made rashly.
So what was it? After talking to the Los Angeles Chargers’ staff about game-planning, and working against Young on Sunday, I got a little window into how Carolina got here. The Chargers staff saw a quarterback who’d stopped looking downfield, struggled to see the field from the pocket, and kept dropping his eyes and looking at the rush—the sign of a player who’s taken too many hits and doesn’t want to take any more.
He looked better when Carolina’s coaches moved the pocket and got him out on the edge, but there were only three such calls Sunday. And, clearly, as the Chargers challenged Young in this area, and as their advance scouting proved true, Young’s receivers grew frustrated.
The result was a mere 54 yards and two first downs in the first half, and a 20–0 deficit going into the third quarter. Things were only marginally better after halftime, when the Chargers took their foot off the gas a bit. It also followed a first half in New Orleans in Week 1 in which the Panthers managed just 74 yards and five first downs, and fell behind 30–3. For the season, in the first half of games, they’re averaging 2.98 yards per offensive snap.
Now, imagine you’re Dave Canales. Veteran players in any locker room, not just Carolina’s, are generally uninterested in your three-year plan. They want to know what’s going to help them win, achieve individual success and, ultimately, get paid. If you keep playing a guy who’s keeping that from happening, it can be a problem. And that’s where it might be tough, given the anemic production and obvious problems, to sell Young to the locker room.
On a weekend in which Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith starred, it’d be ridiculous to start writing a quarterback’s epitaph this early in his career. But Young’s clearly in a bad place right now. Maybe the best thing for him personally is to be removed from it, and the Panthers think it’s the best thing for their team as well.
https://www.si.com/nfl/bryce-young-panth...d-not-rash
Does he have David Carr syndrome? Sure sounds like it. Don't think he was going to be great but could be better than this.
Make no mistake, benching a player in which you made that type of investment this early in his career is a decision that will be reverberate, and could not have been made rashly.
So what was it? After talking to the Los Angeles Chargers’ staff about game-planning, and working against Young on Sunday, I got a little window into how Carolina got here. The Chargers staff saw a quarterback who’d stopped looking downfield, struggled to see the field from the pocket, and kept dropping his eyes and looking at the rush—the sign of a player who’s taken too many hits and doesn’t want to take any more.
He looked better when Carolina’s coaches moved the pocket and got him out on the edge, but there were only three such calls Sunday. And, clearly, as the Chargers challenged Young in this area, and as their advance scouting proved true, Young’s receivers grew frustrated.
The result was a mere 54 yards and two first downs in the first half, and a 20–0 deficit going into the third quarter. Things were only marginally better after halftime, when the Chargers took their foot off the gas a bit. It also followed a first half in New Orleans in Week 1 in which the Panthers managed just 74 yards and five first downs, and fell behind 30–3. For the season, in the first half of games, they’re averaging 2.98 yards per offensive snap.
Now, imagine you’re Dave Canales. Veteran players in any locker room, not just Carolina’s, are generally uninterested in your three-year plan. They want to know what’s going to help them win, achieve individual success and, ultimately, get paid. If you keep playing a guy who’s keeping that from happening, it can be a problem. And that’s where it might be tough, given the anemic production and obvious problems, to sell Young to the locker room.
On a weekend in which Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith starred, it’d be ridiculous to start writing a quarterback’s epitaph this early in his career. But Young’s clearly in a bad place right now. Maybe the best thing for him personally is to be removed from it, and the Panthers think it’s the best thing for their team as well.
https://www.si.com/nfl/bryce-young-panth...d-not-rash
Does he have David Carr syndrome? Sure sounds like it. Don't think he was going to be great but could be better than this.