Bryce Young, the top pick of last year’s draft, endured the worst of the NFL during his rookie season with the Panthers. There were injuries and so many losses. And Carolina dumped the head coach in the middle of it all.
Adam Thielen, the Panthers’ top offensive weapon for Young, shared some insight this week about what it was like to be Young last year. Thielen provided these details while he was a guest on Good Morning Football on NFL Network.
“Yeah, well, I’ll say this: I mean, I think everything was stacked against him last year, unfortunately,” Thielen said. “And I’m not gonna get into detail as to why that was, but I’m just really excited for him to have a fresh start, an ability to have a good coaching staff that’s gonna put a good plan together to help him be successful, and also to put people around him to help him be successful.”
Carolina traded with the Chicago Bears for the No. 1 pick. They had their choice of available quarterbacks and opted for Young, who had starred for Alabama. It probably didn’t help Young’s psyche that C.J. Stroud, the No. 2 pick of the draft, thrived with the Texans as a rookie. The Panthers won only two games while upstart Houston got as far as the second round of the playoffs.
Then four days after Thanksgiving, the Panthers fired first-year coach Frank Reich. At that point, Carolina was 1-10.
Panthers made big moves in free agency to help Young
Although it is March, the Panthers’ off-season moves are encouraging. They hired Dave Canales as their new head coach. Canales is known for his work with quarterbacks, having resurrected the careers of Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield in Seattle and Tampa Bay.
Carolina needed to mine for gems in free agency since they couldn’t use the draft as much because of the Young trade. Part of the trade with the Bears involved sending their 2024 first-round pick to Chicago. It’s why the Bears own the No. 1 pick this season.
Still, Carolina traded with the Steelers for receiver Diontae Johnson. And they upgraded their offensive line by signing guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. The contracts of the two guards total $150 million.
Canales told reporters that Young is content that he went through the fire as a rookie.
“I think that’s one of the things that I’ve learned about him,” Canales said. “He’s like, ‘I’m glad I went through this past year. I’m glad I had the challenges of this because this is very different than anything that I’ve experienced up to this point,’ you know, and to feel him and to hear his hopefulness for where we’re headed, it’s exactly what you would hope to hear from your quarterback and, and from a guy that, that sees the best for himself going forward.”
Thielen shared a similar view of Young.
“His maturity level over the season was really cool to see,” Thielen said. “And his ability to handle adversity. I don’t know how much adversity Bryce has had over his football career, and to handle the amount of adversity he did, to show up every week, week in, week out, put his head down and work, try to lead to the best of his ability was really impressive, and what makes me excited about Year 2 with him.”
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