Bryce Young was relegated to QB2 on Monday. The Carolina Panthers decided to bench the No. 1 overall pick in favor of Andy Dalton less than 24 hours after head coach Dave Canales publicly asserted his confidence in the former Heisman Trophy winner.
According to a report from Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report, both Young and his camp were completely blindsided by the decision.
Carolina dropped to 0-2 with a very ugly loss to Los Angeles at home on Sunday. Its quarterback went 18-of-26 for 84 yards. Yes, you read that correctly. He averaged less than five yards per completion and threw an interception without a touchdown. Young looked like he was on the verge of tears while getting booed by fans who wore paper bags on their heads.
Needless to say, it was a disaster.
Young is 2-17 as the starter for the Panthers. However, it was assumed that Canales would give him a longer leash to try and turn things around— especially after he gave a loud vote of confidence after the loss on Sunday.
Dave Canales on whether Bryce Young will start next week: “Bryce is our quarterback.” pic.twitter.com/g9bAlUr2Tf
— Joe Person (@josephperson) September 15, 2024
That is not the case after all!
Carolina announced on Monday afternoon that Dalton will be the starter in Week 3. Canales’ explanation did not provide much clarity on the switch outside of a desire to win. Nor did he say what the plan will be for the other 15 weeks of the season.
A lot of factors that go into it for this decision. And, ultimately, just kind of landed on my shoulder to be able to make the best decision for our group to give us our best chance to win this week. And we focus on the weeks, we focus on the challenge at hand. We feel like Andy gives us our best chance to meet the challenge.
This was my decision. This is our football team. This is trying to win on a weekly basis. And while it’s my decision, I gather information from the people that are critical to making these kinds of decisions. But this is something I felt like gives us our chance to take a step forward in our play style and to be able to compete this week against a really good Raiders team.
— Dave Canales
Dalton, 36, is on his fourth team in four years. He was thrilled to get the news.
36 y/o Andy Dalton clearly excited to get an opportunity to start in the #NFL again for #Panthers, but several times went out of his way to mention empathy for what Bryce Young is dealing with. Told me he was very surprised at getting the news from Canales today. pic.twitter.com/cIJzzuPDzB
— Nick Carboni (@NickCarboniWCNC) September 16, 2024
Young was not quite as thrilled. Neither he nor the people close to him saw it coming, which obviously makes sense considering what his head coach said to the media on Sunday.
Sources: #Panthers QB Bryce Young and those close to him were “very shocked” at the organization’s decision to bench him this morning. “It came out of nowhere,” one source said.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) September 16, 2024
Safe to say no one anticipated the plug being pulled after just two games with a new coaching staff. pic.twitter.com/OAuu0P4Oc8
Canales’ decision creates an extremely volatile situation in Charlotte. Bryce Young, the first overall pick from a year ago, is not happy and on the bench.
Is there any way to rekindle that relationship or is this the beginning of the end?