Panthers HC discusses how Bryce Young has handled tumultuous season

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young has yet to finish his second full NFL season, but he has already experienced the ups and downs familiar to longtime veterans. 

During a recent chat with Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, first-year Panthers head coach Dave Canales touched upon how Young has handled a difficult start to his career. 

"The biggest thing I’ve learned about Bryce is he just takes it weekly," Canales explained. "He takes the weekly work. 'Who is the opponent? How are we trying to attack him? What do I need to work on?' Just attacking that with intentionality says a lot about his character, that he was engaged in the whole process, which allowed him when he came back in to get his opportunity, to just build off of the things he was growing from, the things he was learning." 

Canales wasn't with the Panthers when they selected Young with the first pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. The signal-caller struggled as a rookie before and after team owner David Tepper fired head coach Frank Reich in late November last year. More recently, Canales felt he had no choice but to bench Young following Week 2 of the current season. Young returned to the lineup in late October and helped Carolina go from 1-7 to 4-11.

Over his past eight starts, Young completed roughly 61% of his passes for 1,650 yards with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also rushed for 191 yards and three scores on 30 attempts across those outings. 

"...We got into situations in games, we’ve been in a lot of these now, really over the past month and a half, we’ve been in some really close games throughout, and he’s shown an ability to go to the next drive regardless of what the score is or the time on the clock. He just goes right back to work and operates," Canales added. "Those things have been really impressive to me." 

Young will likely be asked to compete for the Carolina starting job next summer, but his performances over the next two weeks could impact how Canales and Co. fill the other spots on the depth chart before and during the 2025 draft. As of Tuesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Panthers as eight-point underdogs for this coming Sunday's contest at the 8-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.