The Bryce Young era is officially underway, as the Carolina Panthers held their first rookie minicamp practice Friday.
Young, the first overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Alabama, “looked the part” in his first day of team activities, head coach Frank Reich said.
“Bryce made a great impression,” Reich said, via NFL.com. “Obviously, mentally and physically, [he] looked the part in every way. Threw the ball exceedingly well. You could tell he was in a good space mentally. Really had a firm grasp on everything we asked.”
Reich added that Young showed “complete command,” and has already begun the process of developing a rapport with Jonathan Mingo — the Panthers’ second-round pick out of Ole Miss.
“I’ve been on the opposite side of Bryce for the last two years [in college] and I’m 0-2 against him, so it’s a blessing to finally be on his side,” Mingo said. “We have to keep building our chemistry and help the team win. Just keep practicing, Practicing makes us better. He’s making me better and I’m making him better.”
Young, meanwhile, called it a “huge day” for himself, and is focused on stacking up good days of practice.
“There’s still obviously a lot more about the playbook I want to learn,” Young said. “I want to get to the point to where I have it mastered… I’m going to stay in my playbook and keep trying to get better, day in and day out. But [I] also understand it’s day one of rookie minicamp. It’s a day-by-day process; we talk about it a lot as a team. Today was a good day.”
Bryce Young learning under 16-year NFL veteran
Young will have the benefit of learning under 16-year NFL veteran Josh McCown — brought in this offseason to serve as the team’s quarterbacks coach. Reich said that the two will have a feeling-out process with regards to Young’s fundamentals, but that he believes everything will go smoothly.
“He looked good today,” Reich said. “Some of it’s a feeling-out process, like between he and Josh just talking about. We do a lot of little flexibility and freedom with each quarterback within their footwork, depending on what they’re comfortable with. We kind of have certain requirements that are musts, and then there are other things that are more of a feel thing for each quarterback. There’s a little bit of a working that out with Bryce and Josh in this process, but that’ll go smoothly.”
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