ESPN NFL analyst rips Panthers for Bryce Young situation

The Bryce Young era for the Carolina Panthers seems to have come to an end. Carolina drafted the former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback with the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft , but just over one year later, the young quarterback has been benched in favor of backup quarterback Andy Dalton. Young has struggled mightily in his time with the Panthers, and those struggles came to a head in Carolina’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last week.

Young got off to an abysmal start this season, failing to throw for even 100 yards in last week’s game, just a week after a blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints to start the season where Young went 13/30 for 161 yards and two interceptions. The struggles have led new head coach Dave Canales, who has built a reputation for rebuilding struggling quarterbacks, to seemingly end the “Bryce Young Reclamation Project” early and turn to Dalton.

One NFL analyst had some strong views on the situation, and Carolina’s mishandling of Young since he arrived to the team. New ESPN analyst Ben Solak had a lot of strong words on the Panthers’ handling of Young in his latest column , calling it “one of the greatest organizational failures of recent memory”, and later calling it a “Grotesque organizational failure”.

Solak goes into great detail on the organizational failures that led to the Young benching, including their initial gamble on a player that would have been a historical outlier due to his combination of height and size – or lack thereof. Solak also details the struggles the team has had under owner David Tepper, including the fact that of the 10 head coaches Carolina has had in franchise history, Tepper has hired, fired, or promoted seven of them since buying the team in 2018.

One can also look to the season that now- Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield had last season and the start that now- Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold has got off to this season as further proof that Carolina has a history of mismanaging quarterbacks. Mayfield was in Carolina for a portion of the 2022 season and struggled tremendously before landing with Canales in Tampa Bay and revitalizing his career.

It was a similar story for Darnold. Darnold was the starter in Carolina for portions of the 2021 and 2022 seasons and had similar struggles, but has landed in Minnesota with head coach Kevin O’Connell and seemingly revitalized his career to start the season. Of course, not all of the blame can be placed on the organization. Young hasn’t done anything to help himself over his year-plus with the team, but at some point it becomes a trend – and Carolina just might be at that point.