Bryce Young's Benching Complicates The Future For The Carolina Panthers

It was back in the spring of 2023 that then-Carolina Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer pulled off a blockbuster trade.

The front office head moved all the way up to the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft with the Chicago Bears, giving up a massive haul in return.

For Fitterer and Carolina’s brass, the idea was simple. Add star quarterback Bryce Young from Alabama with the first pick. At that point, Young was considered the consensus top player in the draft.

Part of the package for Young included star wide receiver D.J. Moore, leading to questions about whether it made sense to move on from the Panthers’ best skill-position player with Young slated to start out of the gate.

Fast forward more than 18 months, and this situation is dire. Franchise legend Dan Morgan replaced Fitterer as general manager ahead of the 2024 season. The Panthers hired Dave Canales as head coach after Frank Reich didn’t even last a full season in that role.

For many, this complete restructuring of the Panthers’ organization was the latest example of owner David Tepper’s hands-on approach and unwillingness to show any sort of patience.

Now, heading into Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders, Young has been benched in favor of veteran quarterback Andy Dalton.

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Canales announced the move following another brutal performance from the sophomore signal caller in a blowout Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

"Certainly a lot of parties involved there, and ultimately this comes on me,” Canales said after making the decision, via ESPN.com. “My No. 1 responsibility is to help the Panthers win, and so this move puts us in the best chance to do that."

Since then, NFL insider Jeremy Fowler indicated that Young is “pissed” about the benching.

It did come as a shock to those around the NFL. Sure, Young has not proven to be a starter-caliber quarterback at this young stage of his career. Then again, he’s started all of 18 games. That quick hook doesn’t necessarily paint the Panthers’ brass in the best of lights.

In this social media world, attention quickly turned to whether the Panthers would trade Young. Canales touched on that this week, too. It apparently isn’t in the cards. At the very least, that’s what the Panthers want us to believe publicly.

"That's not something we're really considering. We have a great situation with our quarterbacks right now with guys that have experience,” Canales told reporters earlier in the week. “We love where we are at, and it's all hands on deck."

About that. Carolina ranks dead last in the NFL in scoring a 6.5 points per game. Young tallied 204 net passing yards in the first two games. Expecting Dalton to magically change things is unrealistic.

The question here is obvious. Does it make sense for the Panthers to trade Young ahead of the Nov. 5 NFL trade deadline? I focus on that here.

Carolina Panthers Pushing Back Against Idea Of Trading Bryce Young

It doesn’t make sense for Canales to go out there and say Young is on the trade block. That would create a disadvantage in talks with other teams. Whether Young actually requests a trade remains to be seen. There are no indications that this is going to happen just yet.

As for the head coach, he’s made it clear publicly that the Panthers view Young as a high-upside player who has a future with the organization. That’s especially true from a development perspective.

"This is a developmental-minded program, so the development didn't stop," he said. "Every rep he's out there, we're evaluating the whole thing, having conversations and continuing to push all of our guys, including Bryce, to take the next step."

The goal is to win games short-term. But it’s rather obvious that Canales is looking to the future by making this decision. He thinks it’s best for both Young and the Panthers’ organization. Whether that plays out as planned remains to be seen.

Carolina Panthers Brass Has No Built-In Relationship With Bryce Young

As noted above, Canales and Morgan were brought in after Carolina’s previous power structure gave up the house to acquire the rights to draft Young.

We’ve seen this be repeated over and over again in the modern NFL. New decision makers take on a situation similar to what we’ve seen in Carolina. They do give holdover players an opportunity to prove their worth.

But with Caneles and Morgan, their jobs are not on the line due to the decision by the aforementioned Fitterer to acquire Young in a trade with Chicago.

The Las Vegas Raiders would be a most-recent example of this. They signed Jimmy Garoppolo ahead of the 2023 season. Once head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager David Ziegler were fired, the new brass immediately benched the quarterback. It was the first major decision by then-interim head coach Antonio Pierce.

The Finances And Details Of A Potential Bryce Young Trade

Young, 23, signed a four-year, $37.96 million contract after Carolina made him the No. 1 pick back in 2023. The deal also calls for a fifth-year team option in 2027.

What complicates a potential trade are the finances embedded within said contract. Primarily, the guarantees. All $37.96 million was guaranteed at the time of Young signing his rookie deal.

Given Young’s performance thus far (2-16 record, 10 TD, 12 INT), it’s an open question whether other teams would want to take on the guarantees. That doesn’t even account for the dead cap hit that Carolina would take by trading Young. Per over the Cap, that would come in at roughly $18 million.

The other thing to factor into here is compensation heading back to Carolina in a potential Young trade. The team would be selling him off for pennies on the dollar.

Sure, Canales and Morgan are not on the hook for the trade that brought Young to Carolina in the first place. But said deal included the Panthers yielding two first-round picks, two second-round picks and the aforementioned Moore.

It certainly would be a bad look for the organization, led by David Tepper, to trade Young when his value is at an all-time low.

We can question the Panthers’ decision-making process all we want. With that said, pushing back against the idea of trading Young makes perfect sense. Whether this means he can salvage a career in Carolina remains to be seen.