The Carolina Panthers seem to have recovered from a sloppy start to how they managed Bryce Young's career and he's now on pace to be their long-term franchise quarterback. That will make him the first in the post-Cam Newton era, which has seen half a dozen other quarterbacks come through and burn out, only for half of them to go on and find success elsewhere.
Young's rise in the second half of the season was far from a certain thing - and if not for a car accident and thumb injury for Andy Dalton it may have never happened.
One big reason why Young's first couple of seasons in the NFL have been so tumultuous is that the Panthers have not provided much in terms of stability, especially coaching wise. Under former head coach Frank Reich they infamously changed the offense on Young three times before he ever played his first game at this level. Young is frankly lucky to have survived how the Panthers set him up to fail in his rookie season.
Somebody who knows how hard playing quarterback at the NFL level is Peyton Manning, who threw more picks than touchdowns as a rookie before he settled in and went on to become one of the greatest passers of all time. Manning was recently on Kevin Clark's podcast and pointed out how critical continuity is for a young quarterback. Here's what he shared.
Peyton Manning on young QBs
“It bothers me that Bryce Young is already on his third play-caller and he’s only played two season... Caleb Williams is going to be on his third play-caller sometime next September. That to me is a miss."
Fortunately for Young, the Panthers seem to be getting away from the chaos that defined the first five years of David Tepper's tenure as team owner. Recent reports indicate that Tepper has taken a step back from running day-to-day operations for the franchise and his relying on head coach Dave Canales and general manager Dan Morgan to run things.
Canales has flaws and things he needs to work on as a head coach, but he does appear to know what he's doing calling plays - and that's a big element that will continue to unlock Young's potential. So long as they keep Canales in place Young's trajectory should keep going in the right direction.
