CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young said he was surprised to learn from head coach Dave Canales that he’d been benched, but the second-year pro accepted blame for the team’s struggles on the field.
“It was not something that I was necessarily expecting,” Young said after Thursday’s practice. “Obviously not something that was great to hear. But I respect Coach Canales and the organization.”
Young is 2-16 as an NFL starter since he arrived in Charlotte amid high expectations after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2023 draft.
The Panthers are 0-2 this season and have not been competitive in either game. They have been outscored a combined 73-13 by the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers, including 53-3 in the first half, and have scored just one touchdown. Young has not thrown a touchdown pass in his past four starts dating to last season.
Andy Dalton, 36 years old and in his 14th NFL season, will start at quarterback for Carolina when the Panthers visit the Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) on Sunday.
Young placed the blame for the demotion on his own shoulders, saying he needs to be more productive.
“Last year and these first two games for the most part, every snap has hit my hands, and I didn’t do enough with it at the end of the day. I take accountability for that,” said the 5-foot-10, 204-pound Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner in his second of three seasons at Alabama.
“There are plays and a long list of things that I wish I was better at, and I’m going to continue to work and grow and be better at them. I’m always going to look in the mirror.”
Young is the first quarterback selected No. 1 overall in the NFL’s common draft era starting in 1967 to be benched for noninjury reasons in his second season.
“If I went out there and played better and we won games, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Young said.
However, he said he has hasn’t lost confidence in his own ability, even though the demotion raises questions about his future in Carolina.
Canales had made an attempt to cushion the blow a day earlier, saying he still thinks Young can be a franchise quarterback and that the team has no plans to trade him.
As for whether he still views himself as the franchise quarterback in Carolina, Young sidestepped the question Thursday by saying “really right now, I am a day-by-day type of person. Big-picture stuff, that’s out of my hands. That’s in God’s hands. Organizational stuff, that is with the people upstairs” in the front office.
Young said he’s grateful for the support of his teammates and will continue to approach the game in the same way.
“I’m a competitor, and it’s not what you dream of or what you think is going to happen, but I trust in the Lord,” Young said. “I know that he is in control of everything, and I am super blessed. It’s not something that is ideal, but at the end of day, it is what it is. I have to focus on what I can do now to get better.”