Tomorrow NFC head coaches will be speaking with the media at the annual owners’ meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, including Dave Canales from the Carolina Panthers. Today it was the AFC head coaches who had their moment in the spotlight, including the guy who’s won five of the last six conference championships.
That would be Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, who took the best shot from the Panthers during the regular season and just barely escaped BofA Stadium with a win. After that game Reid came away very impressed by Bryce Young, who had a breakout game.
Reid had more good things to say about the Panthers at today’s meetings. Here’s what he shared about how Canales handled benching Bryce Young early in the season and then bringing him back to start later on, per the team website.
“I thought he did a good job of reading the kid, where he was… You know his progress, I think they probably accelerated it. The fact that he backed up, let him take a step back, and then the kid took a step forward when he came back. That’s brilliant on his part… That’s a tough, tough thing. To sit down a first-round pick, and it’s really tough bringing him back. And then the kid responded, so it was a great move.”
At the time it was fair to wonder if Young would ever get another shot to start in the NFL. Fortunately, Young bombed Weeks 1-2 so badly that the Panthers had no real incentive to put him on the trade block, with the highest offer they were reportedly going to get being a fourth-round pick.
Surrendering a number one overall pick for a fourth-rounder after just 18 starts would have been a disaster – and the Panthers were right not to shop Young. Otherwise, they’d be heading into the 2025 draft class needing another potential starter, in a thin class where there may only be two prospects who are ready to start this year.
Young isn’t quite an established franchise quarterback just yet, but if he picks up where he left off it won’t take too many more starts for that question to be settled for good.
