The Carolina Panthers have had enough of the embarrassment.
That much was clear on Monday when they announced they were benching former first-overall draft pick Bryce Young after only 18 career starts. It’s hard to imagine a quarterback performing any worse through two weeks than Young had, but it was still shocking to see the Panthers all but give up on the young quarterback so soon.
One prominent NFL figure in the mediasphere has had enough of how the Carolina Panthers are handling Young’s situation. Mel Kiper Jr. went on Get Up on Tuesday morning and laid into the Panthers’ organization.
“Then you see him beat C.J. Stroud on the field as a rookie. You take out the three games he threw multiple interceptions he was six touchdown, three picks. Had some decent games last year. Then you go into this year and you change everything because C.J. Stroud’s doing so well in Houston — “we gotta destroy this thing, we gotta blow it up, start over. Because C.J. Stroud’s doing so great in Houston — these coaches aren’t getting it done.
“So we bring in an offensive coach, who was with Baker and others. Bring in a new pass game coordinator. New quarterback coach — for Bryce Young. THEN YOU DON’T PLAY HIM IN THE PRESEASON! We play him one series in the final preseason game against the AOG’s [any old guy], by the way none of those guys are playing for Buffalo now. They went one series down the field and they were ‘rah, rah! Great, we accomplished everything we wanted to!’
“I’ll give you a little note: C.J. Stroud played two preseason games. Derek Carr played in two preseason games. Why? Because Klint Kubiak was coming in with a new offense, and Derek Carr as a veteran played in two preseason games. Bryce Young played one series in the final preseason game against the nobodies on defense for the Buffalo Bills. Because THAT makes sense that now we’re two games in that he can’t play. Yes, his confidence was shattered. Yes, he does need to sit behind Andy Dalton for a little bit. But the ‘blame this on Bryce Young’ is ridiculous. The blame here goes to the organization, the owner, for mishandling this young quarterback.”
Mel Kiper with an All-Time Mel Kiper rant for the ages on Bryce Young. pic.twitter.com/Hhb54yjl0i
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 17, 2024
It’s hard to argue with any of the points Kiper is making. No matter how you dice it, things have been a disaster in Carolina from top to bottom.
Only time will tell how Young’s replacement, veteran Andy Dalton, will perform, but until things change at the top in Carolina its hard to have much faith.
