First-year Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales has been stressing to Bryce Young all offseason that he needs to get rid of the ball quickly or move out of the pocket and extend the play if nothing is open.
This will require fast decision-making from Young, who had one of the slowest release times in the league last year.
Canales believes this approach will play to Young’s strengths and help him improve after a tough rookie season where he had a 2-14 record as a starter, threw for less than 180 yards per game, and had almost as many interceptions (10) as touchdown passes (11).
“For our concepts, if you kind of get more specific to what we’re trying to do, the ball gets to the checkdown in about 2.7, definitely under 3,” Canales said at the NFL combine. “Bryce better be really moving towards the line of scrimmage, ready to take off, checking it down.”
Canales thinks that 2.7 seconds is enough time for Young to go through his first two reads and his checkdown.
Some plays, especially those involving play action and deep throws, might take longer. However, as a general rule, the Panthers want Young to operate with a sense of urgency.
This is partly to prevent a repeat of 2023, when Young, the No. 1 overall pick, was sacked 62 times in 16 games—almost four times per game.
Several factors contributed to this. Sometimes Young held on to the ball too long. Other times, receivers didn’t get open because they couldn’t break press coverage or their routes were slow to develop. Most often, it was the offensive line not protecting Young.
To help Young, the Panthers made changes to the team by bringing in new players.
New general manager Dan Morgan spent a total of $150 million on free-agent guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, traded for veteran wide receiver Diontae Johnson, and picked wide receiver Xavier Legette with the 32nd pick in the first round of the draft.
Veteran Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen thinks that Canales’ fast-paced approach, which helped Geno Smith in Seattle and Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay achieve 4,000-yard passing seasons, is a great fit for Young’s style.
Thielen describes Young as a “quick processor.” “Bryce has the ability to read the coverage, get the ball out, and find guys and give them an opportunity to make plays fast,” Thielen said.
“He has that unique ability to know where to go with the ball. I think this, being his second year, he has been able to slow down and be confident in our offensive line and confident in the playmakers around him. He isn’t trying to put everything on his own shoulders.”
Young’s first big test in the new offensive system will be on Sunday when the Panthers face the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome.
That stadium was the site of one of Young’s toughest games as a rookie. He completed 13 of 36 passes for 137 yards and was sacked four times in a 28-6 loss.
Still, Saints defensive back Tyrann Mathieu said Young is a quarterback with excellent pocket awareness and that the defense needs to be mindful of his ability to extend plays.
“(Patrick) Mahomes has got good pocket presence. Josh Allen does, too. But he’s up there with them as far as just like pocket presence,” Mathieu said. “He can bob and weave, and the ball’s still ready to come out.
And he’s a runner, too. He’s underrated in that department. I know his coach probably tells him, ‘Don’t run,’ because he’s like 160 pounds, but he’s an underrated scrambler. He definitely stresses you for sure.”
Saying that Young’s growth as a quarterback is crucial for the Panthers’ success is an understatement. Carolina traded four draft picks and wide receiver D.J. Moore to move up eight spots in the draft last year to pick Young, showing how much they are invested in him and how important it is for him to succeed.
Young, who is known for staying calm, seems focused on moving past his tough 2023 season. He mentioned that he took some time to “regroup” after last year.
“It was a good opportunity to go back to being a student again,” Young said. “It was good to have a reset.”
Even with the difficulties he faced, Young said he is “super grateful” for the experience. He thinks it will benefit him in the future.
“Even during it, through all of the challenges,” Young said. “I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason. It wasn’t something that was hard to get through for me.
I’ve had good years and bad years throughout my life from a football standpoint, and each year you kind of get used to turning the page — good, bad or indifferent.”
