Andy Dalton playing time prediction from NFL insider is dead wrong

When Bryce Young hit the bench last year, it was a desperation move to save the team, Young, and Dave Canales. It also proved to be needed, as it helped reset Young and turn him into the player he is now. Doing that again would be unnecessary and foolish.

Dave Canales has shown he's willing to sideline Bryce Young when the offense stalls for stretches, and it didn't take long last year," Moe Moton of Bleacher Report said. "The Carolina Panthers benched the young signal-caller in Week 3 of the previous campaign and inserted Andy Dalton into the starting lineup."

Obviously, that was a very different situation. To that point, neither Canales nor anyone in the Panthers building had seen the version of Young that came out after the benching.

They have now seen it plenty, and there's no reason to think they'd bench him because of another "slow start," which might not do it justice. Young was 31/56 for 245 yards and three interceptions in those two games. It was horrible, and it won't reach that level again.

"As the No. 1 overall pick from the 2023 draft, Young enters a crucial year that will impact his short-term future in Carolina," Moton said. "Though he played his best football in the final three weeks of the 2024 term, throwing for 612 yards and seven touchdowns with a 65 percent completion rate, another slow start to the season could jeopardize his job security."

This is highly unlikely, and it's even more unlikely that Canales jumps to Andy Dalton. Dalton is banged up right now, and he has looked disastrous in the preseason. If Young and the starters have looked rough, then Dalton has looked downright atrocious. Nothing about it suggests that moving Young back to the bench would be a good idea.