‘From No.1 pick to bench in 18 games – can Young come back from this?’

We’re just two weeks into the new NFL season and one quarterback has already been benched. Just over a year after being selected with the first pick of the 2023 draft, Bryce Young has been replaced as the Carolina Panthers’ starter by veteran Andy Dalton.

As Tom Brady has said, it’s a “tragedy” really, how rookie quarterbacks are handled, that so often they’re forced to play right at the start of their NFL career and don’t get time to learn and develop.

Being the NFL’s number one draft pick comes with a lot of pressure. You become the face of that franchise, that city, and there’s really no escaping it.

There’s a lot of weight put on your shoulders, and it’s not just the media or the football. There are many other new demands on you, there’s so much more than what you see on the field. But these guys are only 22, 23, and they’re only human.

In last year’s draft the Panthers went for Young rather than CJ Stroud, but then-head coach Frank Reich and team owner David Tepper were not on the same page. Tepper wanted Young and if you’re bringing somebody in that the head coach does not approve of – especially a quarterback who’s gone first overall – that was immediately a big red flag.

Both parties need to be aligned in on who you’re bringing in, who you’re planning to make your franchise quarterback, and that’s where it all started going wrong for Young.

His rookie year was a struggle. The Panthers’ wide receivers failed to get open and their offensive line was incredibly inconsistent. Across the season, 11 players started across the five offensive line positions.

For any rookie, as we’re seeing with this year’s first pick Caleb Williams at Chicago, you need to have a solid offensive line to protect the quarterback.

You can’t have your guy getting sacked at the rate Young was (68 sacks in 18 games). Houston took CJ Stroud with last year’s second pick and he was the offensive rookie of the year, but if he’d been drafted by Panthers he would have struggled as well.

There’s also been no continuity for Young with the head coach. Reich was fired after 11 games so he’s already on his third head coach – with Chris Tabor (interim) and now Dave Canales.

Coach Canales is supposed to be a kind of quarterback whisperer having helped Baker Mayfield get back to his best while Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator last season.

Previously he worked with Russell Wilson so he has an understanding of that smaller kind of quarterback, which is something that continues to come up with Young, who’s 5ft 10in. People are concerned he can’t necessarily see over the offensive linemen, some of those guys are 6ft 7in, 6ft 8in.

On top of that, he’s not really seeing the field anymore. He’s made inaccurate throws and had poor footwork.

Remember when Simone Biles had the Twisties? In golf they call it the yips. This is the football equivalent of that. You don’t see the field, you’re not able to identify where the defensive blitz is coming from.
Young is a phenomenal athlete and was known for his leadership in college at Alabama. When he plays with confidence, his instincts are next level. He was expected to come in and be a leader.

The team with last season’s worst record gets the first draft pick, and young quarterbacks think they can turn a franchise around. You have to have that self-confidence and self-belief because you need to go in there, be assertive and take command, but it’s a big step from college to the NFL.

There are multiple theories of how to nurture a quarterback. Stroud came straight in whereas Jordan Love at the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes had the opportunity to sit and learn behind some great quarterbacks before becoming the starter.

Even with Josh Allen when I was with Buffalo, they brought in veteran quarterbacks as back-ups, to help him learn how to be a professional and a leader, on and off the field. Young hasn’t had that mentorship yet, or a chance to just sit back and learn.

Over the past few years, the Panthers have also traded away their star players, game-changers like Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore. When you bring in a young quarterback they need that lifeline. Who’s going to be that reliable guy he throws to?

Arizona have been looking for that guy for Kyler Murray (first pick in 2019). They drafted Marvin Harrison Jr and they were superb last Sunday.

You can’t rely on one person to turn a whole franchise around. You need to be strong on defence and offence, to make several good draft picks – as the Texans did last year – to understand your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and to help your young quarterback as much as possible.

In the past 10 years, a quarterback has been drafted with the first pick eight times. Mayfield (2018) is probably the most relatable to Young when he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. He was traded and bounced around four teams – including the Panthers in 2022 – but was excellent at Tampa Bay last year.

Trevor Lawrence (2021) didn’t have a great start at the Jacksonville Jaguars but a new coach helped. The most positive thing for a young quarterback is to have a head coach that actually wants them and create that head coach-QB relationship and culture, and build your organisation around that.

I do think Young can come back from this. He just needs to look at the success Mayfield’s having now, and Sam Darnold, the third pick in 2018.

He was in the same position with the New York Jets and then the Panthers, but look at what a great coaching structure and support, and sitting and learning can do for a young player. He did that with the San Francisco 49ers last year, now he’s starting for the Minnesota Vikings and won his first two games.

The Panthers just need some sort of support system in place to help Young rebuild his confidence. That’s the saddest thing about this, losing his confidence. Hopefully that will come back with time and he finds his love and passion for the sport again.