The Carolina Panthers are hoping that they can turn things around this upcoming season after finishing at the bottom of the NFL last year with a 2-15 record. And Panther fans are hoping that former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young can be the catalyst to lead that turnaround.
Young’s rookie season for Carolina did not resemble his elite play at the college level that garnered him top-pick selection. But his teammate Adam Thielen recently joined The Rich Eisen Show and revealed that so far this offseason his quarterback’s comfort level has increased right before his eyes.
“It’s been awesome honestly, and not only him, just a lot of the young guys, a lot of the staff,” Thielen said. “It’s just been a great offseason to just see some of these guys who haven’t been in the league very long. Just the way that they’ve come in with confidence. You can tell Bryce’s demeanor in the building, he’s just more comfortable.”
Young threw for 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions last year, disappointing numbers that did not translate to wins for the Panthers. But Thielen believes Young having more time spent with the team this offseason compared to his rookie season could go a long way this upcoming year.
“And you don’t realize it when you start getting to be a veteran guy just because you forget about those times. But I look back at it now after being around Bryce the first two weeks of OTAs, I kind of started to think. I look back to last year, those first two weeks OTAs, he wasn’t even there yet. He was still not even on a team yet, the draft hasn’t gone on yet,” Thielen explained.
“So I’m thinking back to that now he’s there, now we’re getting routes on air, we’re around each other, we’re in the locker room together. We’re BS-ing and talking about how great the Timberwolves are, because I’m a Timberwolves fan,” Thielen added. “So you have that time together that we didn’t have last year. And so you kind of started thinking like man, that’s tough as a rookie quarterback.”
Rookie quarterbacks face a slew of challenges following the draft in a short amount of time. Forced to hit the ground running, learn a new playbook and players during rookie camp, then return to training camp ahead of their first NFL season.
“So it was a whirlwind in a lot of ways and that’s not even talking about the system, and the coaching, and the adversity, and all that,” Thielen said. “So it’s been a really cool offseason to see how he’s just come back with I got urgency, I got confidence, I have comfortability in the system, in the facility, and locker room and what that does for a player.”
Thielen was Young’s top target last season with 103 catches for 1,014 yards. And with new weapons like Xavier Legette, Diontae Johnson, and JT Sanders, hopefully a more confident and comfortable Young can reach his full potential and help turn things around in Charlotte this year.
