Panthers QB Andy Dalton trips, sacks himself in NFL preseason game vs. Browns

Alas, Dalton lost the starting job after suffering an injury to the thumb on his throwing hand in a car accident. Young remained the team’s starter for the rest of the season, even after Dalton fully recovered.

On February 18, Dalton signed a two-year contract extension with the Panthers. His contract is worth $8 million and has a maximum value of $10 million. Young was excited for Dalton to secure his future with the team.

“Me and Andy are super close,” Young said. “From when I first got here, just being able to talk with him through things, him having perspective on a situation that I had never been a part of, I was always leaning on him, always having conversations and just from a day-to-day basis.

“You can’t add up the hours we spend here; we’re here every single day, and just being able to have someone that you can bounce stuff off of, ask how you see things. Whether it’s Xs and Os or it’s philosophical things or stuff outside of football or somewhere nuanced in between. He is always there, just trying to help me out. And again, having a guy like that who really does it for the right reasons and wants to help, that’s super rare. So I’m super grateful for that.”

While Andy Dalton isn’t expected to be the Week 1 starter for the Panthers this fall, he’ll need to stay ready. After all, quarterbacks suffer injuries on nearly a weekly basis across the league. Dalton is excited for the Panthers’ future.

“I think the trajectory of this team is trending in the right direction, and you want to be a part of it,” Dalton said. “From when it wasn’t as easy to win games and to see where it’s going to go and to feel where it’s going to go.

“The right people are here, and they’re going to keep adding to it, so it’s something that I didn’t want to just be part of at the beginning of it and then be away and then see the success and see where it goes. But now I want to be part of the whole building of this thing.”