Dave Canales wants Bryce Young to take control of the Panthers offense

The Carolina Panthers have been as busy as any NFL team this offseason, working to upgrade a roster that hasn't posted a winning record since 2017. Most of the renovations have come on defense, where they finished last in rushing yards allowed for the season and ranked as the worst team ever in points allowed.

On this side of the ball, they landed a couple of big new pices for their defensive line in Bobby Brown II and Tershawn Wharton, who project to start next to the returning Derrick Brown. Out on the edge the Panthers drafted two highly-promising prospects in Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen, who will start out on the bench but should be long-term starters. They also added depth and experience at linebacker with Christian Rozeboom and signed a massive upgrade at safety with Tre'Von Moehrig.

The Panthers weren't entirely idle on offense, either. They kept their solid offensive line intact and added Rico Dowdle and Trevor Etienne to the backfield. They also found a few new pass-catching weapons with Tetairoa McMillan and Jimmy Horn at wide receiver and Mitchell Evans at tight end.

This all sounds good in theory and at least on paper Carolina looks to be much tougher than they were last year at this time.

However, none of these perceived improvements are going to matter if the most important element on the field doesn't go their way: that being Bryce Young, and his need to pick up where he left off in 2024 and continue growing into the star quarterback we all know he can be.

On that subject, head coach Dave Canales says he's looking for Young to take more command of his offense this year, per Myles Simmons at Pro Football Talk.

"These are conversations that we’ve been having with him going back to the end of last season that we want to implement and just be able to, especially in the pass game, become Bryce Young offense, become this collective thing and get the chemistry going. I feel really confident about what I saw today, especially going against the defense, and just the speed that we were playing with..."

Although Young did well at the end of the season when the team's top three running backs were all on injured reserve, at the moment Carolina's game is probably more accurately described as the Chubba Hubbard offense.

When healthy Hubbard is one of the 10-best running backs in the NFL and there's nothing wrong with wanting a strong run game, especially as defensive coverages are trending more conservative with each passing season. However, the best offenses are always able to beat you in multiple ways, and the Panthers need to grow their passing playbook.

It's clear that Bryce Young has awesome touch and accuracy on his deep throws, and that's a weapon the Panthers should take advantage of as often as they can. However, it's also somewhat unsustainable - and Young will need to learn to move the chains a bit at a time more consistently than we saw last season.

Filling out the intermediate part of his game will be a three-pronged process: first, the Panthers need their non-Adam Thielen receivers to actually offer something - especially in that part of the field. Second, Canales himself will have to dial up more plays that take advantage of his receivers' skillsets. Finally, Young has to cultivate patience and learn to progress down the field a little bit at a time.

If they can do all that and their run game stays as strong as last year, this should be an average-at-worst kind of offense this season.