Mel Kiper Jr. slammed the Panthers' handling of the Bryce Young incident.
After Carolina announced it was benching its 2023 No. 1 overall pick following a 2-0 start, the ESPN NFL Draft analyst appeared on the Worldwide Leader broadcast to offer some scathing criticism of the struggling franchise, which is now turning to veteran point guard Andy Dalton.
“I think 'unfair' is the right word,” Kiper said on Tuesday's “Get Up.” “When we drafted Bryce Young, we knew he was an exception. Russell Wilson was bigger and taller than him, but he was only 5-foot-10-and-three-quarters tall, so it opened up an opportunity for a 5-foot-10 quarterback.”
“But Russell Wilson is 205-208 pounds, not 180. Kyler Murray was the No. 1 overall pick because of Russell Wilson. He's a different body type. [than] “Bryce Young. You knew that Bryce Young, not only a short guy, but a little undersized quarterback, was going to need help, right?”
The Panthers selected Young with the top pick out of Alabama over Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, a quarterback who threw for 8,200 yards and 79 touchdowns in two seasons with the Crimson Tide.
Young had some bright spots in his rookie season, including a Week 8 win over Stroud and the Texans, but the team finished 2-15 and Young threw nearly as many interceptions (10) as touchdowns (11) while finishing with just 2,877 passing yards.
“Also, continuity, everyone was saying that when you draft a quarterback, Carolina has a great infrastructure in place with a head coach, coordinator, quarterbacks coach, senior assistants — everything is in place,” Kiper said.
“And he beat C.J. Stroud on the field as a rookie, six touchdowns, three interceptions, not including the three games where he gave up multiple interceptions. [He] We had some good matches last year.”
After the team fired Frank Reich midway through last season, named Chris Tabor as interim coach and hired Dave Canales during the offseason, Young has played under three head coaches in just 18 career games — a rate of change that Kiper said was too rapid for a young quarterback.
“But then this year came around and we've got to change everything because C.J. Stroud is doing so well in Houston. 'We've got to destroy this, blow it up and start over because C.J. Stroud is doing so well in Houston. These coaches aren't getting it done,'” Kiper said. So we brought in an offensive coach who'd been with Baker (Mayfield) and the others. We brought in a new passing game coordinator and a new quarterbacks coach in Bryce Young.”
Despite a new coaching staff in Carolina and a shaky rookie season, Young only made one brief appearance behind center during the preseason, which perplexed Kiper.
“Bryce Young played one series in the final preseason game against a no-name Buffalo Bills defense,” Kiper said, “does that make sense? And then after two games, they're saying he can't play.”
“Yes, his confidence has been shattered. Yes, he's going to have to take a back seat to Andy Dalton for a while. But blaming this on Bryce Young is ridiculous. The blame here is on the organization, the ownership, for mishandling this young quarterback.”
