Even though the Carolina Panthers finished the 2024 season with an underwhelming 5-12 record, the future is bright for this organization. Following a slow start to the year, quarterback Bryce Young and head coach Dave Canales finished the campaign on a high note, and their impressive turnaround drew praise from one of the game’s top coaches. During the league’s annual meeting, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke about Canales and his impressive job of getting the most out of his young quarterback.
“I thought he did a good job of reading the kid, where he was,” Reid said. “You know his progress, I think they probably accelerated it. The fact that he backed it up, let him take a step back, and then the kid took a step forward when he came back. That’s brilliance on his part.”
“A tough thing to do. That’s a tough, tough thing. To sit down a first-round pick, and it’s really tough bringing him back. And then the kid responded, so it was a great move.”
Andy Reid Throws Praise on Panthers Bryce Young, Dave Canales
When the Panthers hired Dave Canales, his top priority was finding a way to turn Bryce Young into a franchise quarterback. The 2023 first-overall pick struggled as a rookie, but nobody could accurately evaluate the Alabama product. The 2023 Carolina Panthers had the league’s worst supporting cast, so nobody could say if Young’s poor production was a result of his poor play or the disastrous environment.
After hiring Canales and bringing in guys like veteran Diontae Johnson and first-round pick Xavier Legette, Young had the chance to succeed in 2024. However, he started the year in disastrous fashion, leading two blowout losses before eventually losing the starting job to veteran Andy Dalton. For a while, that seemed to be the end of his Panthers career, as Dalton looked adequate under center.
However, a car crashed forced Dave Canales to return to Bryce Young, and the first-overall pick looked like a new player after his benching. Over the final 10 games of the season, Young completed 61.8% of his passes for 2,104 yards, 15 touchdowns, and six interceptions and kept improving as the season progressed.
It’s too early to say Bryce Young is a legitimate franchise quarterback, but Dave Canales has given Panthers fans the most hope they’ve had since early 2018. Ideally, these two will grow together and lead a team that can compete against the NFL’s premier competition.
Main Photo: Jim Dedmon – Imagn Images
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