NFL analyst delivers brutal Bryce Young assessment

One of the leading voices in the NFL Draft industry, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, was among those ringing the bell for Bryce Young in the 2023 NFL Draft. In his final mock draft, he projected the Alabama Crimson Tide product to go first overall and said that he thought Young — not C.J. Stroud — was the best passer in that year’s class.

The Carolina Panthers thought so, too, which is why they traded significant draft capital to go up and get him. But just two games into his second season as a starter, the Panthers have opted to bench Young in favor of Andy Dalton. New head coach Dave Canales is already on the clock, tasked with helping Young become the version of himself we saw at Alabama. But after two dismal starts, Carolina has opted to go in a different direction, as it became nearly impossible to evaluate its current roster with Young under center.

Through 18 games, Young has been worse than former New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (now with the Denver Broncos) by expected points added . And being that Wilson was statistically the worst quarterback in the league over his three seasons as a starter, that’s saying something.

In any event, Young’s performance in a 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He went 18-of-26 passing for 84 yards (averaging 3.2 yards per attempt) with zero touchdowns against an interception, while his QBR was a horrendous 6.4. He was sacked twice and rushed the ball once for six yards.

In not moving the ball down the field, seemingly afraid of making mistakes against Jim Harbaugh’s defense, Young stuck to underneath passing that didn’t see the ball truly move down the field. Through the first two weeks, the embattled Carolina Panthers quarterback is 6-of-20 for 123 yards with three interceptions on passes ten or more yards down the field.

It’s a tenuous situation, to say the least.

But what leads us back to Jeremiah is that he’s the analyst for the Chargers’ radio broadcasts and was at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday. Jeremiah was front and center during what could be the end of Young in Carolina, as we know, and spoke at length about his shocking regression on The Rich Eisen Show Monday.

“No, he’s not got, you know, talk about just a lack of confidence,” Jeremiah said when asked by Eisen if this was the same quarterback he and other draft analysts evaluated coming out of Alabama. “I mean, just getting a yard is difficult. The body language of kind of the whole group is not good. There’s not a lot of talent; it’s one of the least talented team’s I’ve seen. I came into the league in 2003…that, to me, is one of the worst rosters that I’ve seen — and that’s especially taking into account Derrick Brown, who’s their best player who’s out.

“But offensively, they weren’t even trying to throw the ball down the field. You’d have to look at the NextGen Stat numbers, but there might’ve been only a couple throws in the first half where the ball traveled more than five yards. It was like watching a high school game, and he does not look like someone who is confident. He was missing bubble screens, he was missing hitches — these are high school throws that he’s been able to make in his sleep for his whole life, that look like a challenge at this point in time.

“I’m watching that Sunday night game last night, Rich, and I’m seeing the Bears fans — and maybe it’s just Twitter as a whole – lose their minds and freaking out over Caleb Williams. And I’m like, ‘Guys, this is not what I just saw with Carolina. This is a totally different deal.’ Caleb Williams and the Bears, you’re going to be fine there. The Carolina Panthers and the situation right now with Bryce Young…I said it at one point in time during the game, I said, ‘There’s a couple things I know: the Chargers are a very physical team and the Panthers will have the first pick in the draft next year.’ Those are the two things I came away with.”

[ The Rich Eisen Show ]

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