When the Carolina Panthers selected former Alabama quarterback Bryce Young with the first pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, they likely envisioned him having the kind of success that the next pick, C.J. Stroud, had with the Houston Texans. Unlike the Texans, however, the supporting cast around the quarterback simply was not there last year in Carolina.
The Panthers’ front office has made a concerted effort to rectify that situation, trying to give Young the tools he needs to become the franchise quarterback you expect when you take one with the first pick in the draft. Have they done enough to help out Young, though? One NFL analyst doesn’t think so.
Deputy editor for NFL.com Gennaro Filice recently ranked every team in the NFL by their trio of skill players heading into the 2024 season. Specifically, Filice was looking at each team’s combination of quarterback, top pass catcher – whether that be wide receiver or tight end, and top running back, ranking each team from 32 to 1. Filice started his ranking off with the Panthers sitting at the very bottom: Number 32.
Filice doesn’t go into a lot of detail for why he has this trio ranked as the league’s worst, but he does mention that last year Young looked “overwhelmed”, and that running back Jonathon Brookis won’t be available for the beginning of the season as he continues to rehab a torn ACL, but that Brooks should “snag RB1 duties from Chuba Hubbard”.
Unsurprisingly, Filice has the Philadelphia Eagles’ trio of Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and A.J. Brown as the top-ranked trio in the NFL, just edging out the trio of Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, and Brandon Aiyuk for the San Francisco 49ers.
As for Stroud and the Texans, Filice has them just inside the top 10 and number 9, with their addition of running back Joe Mixon from the Cincinnati Bengals, and top receiver Nico Collins.
The biggest question in all of this is how much new Panthers head coach Dave Canales will have an effect on Young. Canales has worked wonders the past few seasons with the likes of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield, spurring them to the best performances of their careers and revitalizing the veteran quarterbacks. Can he have a similar impact on the young Panthers passer?