It’s been a few days since the news, so a lot of people have had time to get their takes off.
It’s been a few days since head coach Dave Canales announced that quarterback Bryce Young was being benched in favor of Andy Dalton, and we’re not quite done milking that story for content. The Carolina Panthers have been largely irrelevant in the NFL landscape over the last few years save for jokes and comments about the team’s and owner David Tepper’s incompetence. It’s rare that the team is actually in the news and not just the punchline of a joke when talking about a team people actually care about. The takes have been flying fast and furious.
For the film junkies, legendary backup quarterback Chase Daniel did an 18 minute breakdown of some plays that he thinks are representative of Young’s struggles and the reason he was benched. He shows where Bryce doesn’t seem to be looking at the right things and how his fundamentals are breaking down.
Over on the worldwide leader of hot sports takes that get you to watch their programming, the First Take crew talked about whether or not Bryce Young is the worst #1 overall pick of all time. Notorious level head Stephen A Smith actually seemed to make the best points. Mel Kiper, who is notorious for being very hesitant to walk back his pre-draft evaluations, when on a passionate rant about how the Panthers failed Young. Paul Finebaum echoes those sentiments.
Ryan Leaf, who knows what it means to be a bust, also laid the entire share of the blame on the Panthers organization.
Former Panther defensive tackle Gerald McCoy criticized the team for not giving him more of a chance after struggling. Micah Parsons agrees that Young isn’t getting a fair shake, but it’s not a problem exclusive to the Panthers.
Micah Parsons doesn’t think Bryce Young is ‘getting a fair shake’ after being benched by the Panthers
He mentions Kenny Pickett & Justin Fields as other young quarterbacks who were expected to succeed despite ‘no real assets around them’
(via The Edge with Micah Parsons) pic.twitter.com/X7bAkPJngB
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 17, 2024
NFL analyst LeBron James also thinks Bryce Young’s failings thus far are not on Bryce Young.
Bryce Young hold ya head Young !! Rooting for you and know this ain’t on you! Continue to put the work in and it shall prevail!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 18, 2024
You can really just Google or X search ‘Bryce Young’ and find anyone you want spinning this into a team or David Tepper failing.
Josh Norris, who is a Panthers fan to some extent if I’m not mistaken and has very reasonable opinions, shared his reasoning for why Young was benched to kind of counter the narrative that has been permeating sports media.
I get people blaming the Panthers for Bryce Young. 62 sacks is unacceptable. 7 LGs, 8 RGs. Bland scheme. Slow WRs. Other players’ mistakes ending drives, with Bryce ending them too. I pointed it out every week
But with an improved environment this season, Bryce Young looked… https://t.co/PIplMjX0Qq
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) September 18, 2024
At the end of the day, the Panthers are the Panthers, so any decision they made or didn’t make was going to be the wrong one. Until stuff starts working, that is just the way they are going to be talked about. We’ll see if Dave Canles is ultimately proven right by making the quarterback switch to Andy Dalton.