NFL insider's diary: Latest on Carolina Panthers' messy Bryce Young situation and why a trade away could be difficult
The Carolina Panthers hoped they had selected their quarterback of the future in 2023 after packaging a boatload of picks to move up and select Bryce Young with the first choice of the draft. Yet it has not worked out, and odds are that Carolina will move on from Young only a few weeks into his second season with the franchise in what will go down as one of the worst trades in the history of the NFL Draft. So what’s going to happen next for Young?
Before we look forward, it’s important to look back and see how we got here.
Bryce Young's NFL journey so far
Heading towards draft day 2023, there was speculation as to who would be the first pick of the draft, which was held by the Carolina Panthers after their monster trade with the Chicago Bears.
The majority believed that Bryce Young of Alabama, the favorite of Panthers owner David Tepper would be the selection, despite his slight size and build. There was some thought that Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud could end up as the top pick considering his testing and workouts leading up to the draft. Stroud was the quarterback favored by Frank Reich, then head coach of the Panthers.
Young was branded as a genius during the draft process, while Stroud was the down-to-earth quarterback with great upside. In the end, owner David Tepper exerted his influence and won out as the Panthers chose the Alabama product.
Problems started quickly for Young, who did not play well early in his rookie season, and the situation devolved from there. One month ago, just weeks after camp started, I mentioned in an article that there were a lot of concerns about Young moving towards Week 1.
The situation worsened once the season began, as Young looked terrible during the first two games and was eventually benched. His replacement, Andy Dalton, led the Panthers to their first victory of the season Sunday by beating the Raiders in Las Vegas, becoming the first quarterback in 2024 to throw for more than 300 yards and three TDs in a single game.
Prior to this week’s contest, Carolina’s hierarchy publicly stated that they were not looking to trade Young -- comments that sources told me were legitimate.
Why Panthers are intent on keeping Bryce Young
Sources mentioned that one reason the Panthers intended to keep Young was that Dan Morgan, presently President of Football Operations and General Manager for the franchise, was in large part responsible for orchestrating the trade to acquire the first pick to select Young in 2023.
At the time, Morgan was the assistant general manager to Scott Fitterer in Carolina. The other is the owner, David Tepper, who was one of the loudest voices in the room back in 2023, favoring the selection of Young.
Young was not on the same page and said last week he would be open to a trade out of Carolina. Those close to the franchise told me the former first pick of the draft has completely lost his confidence on the field, and some believe he’s lost his confidence in the Carolina organization.
Odds are Young’s career with the Panthers is over, but Carolina may be in a pickle trying to move him. They’ll demand more in return for Young than teams would be willing to pay, in the early going at least. In moving up for Young, the Panthers gave up four picks -- a pair of first-round picks and a second-round selection in the 2025 draft amongst them.
The recent trade of a first-round quarterback returned only a sixth-round pick to the Chicago Bears for Justin Fields and what amounted to a swap of a third- and fourth-round picks as well as a pair of seventh-round selections to the Pittsburgh Steelers for Kenny Pickett.
The feeling around the league is that while Young’s career with the Panthers is over, he still has a life in the NFL if put in the correct situation. League insiders tell me that with the correct coaching and support, they believe Young will flourish, a statement that can be made to defend just about any first-round quarterback.
One source went as far as saying that if Young played for the San Francisco 49ers in the Kyle Shanahan scheme and had Shanahan as a head coach, he would perform better than Brock Purdy.
The end result of playing for Shanahan is something we may never find out, yet there’s no denying that Young’s days in Carolina are numbered and he’ll soon be wearing the jersey of a different team.