Panthers Benching Bryce Young Another Cautionary Tale For Patriots

Patriots fans saw it up close with the stunted development and ensuing benching of former New England quarterback Mac Jones. Carolina Panthers second-year signal-called Bryce Young now serves as another example to all teams with young quarterbacks.

The Panthers have benched the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft in favor of veteran Andy Dalton. Carolina head coach Dave Canales on Sunday said Young would remain the team’s quarterback before the change 24 hours later. It’s clear Canales and company view Dalton as the better short-term option.

Take it as a cautionary tale, Patriots fans.

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Young was thrust into arguably the league’s worst situation as a rookie and it’s led to noticeable regression in his sophomore season. The Panthers ranked 27th in pass-blocking grade in 2023, per Pro Football Focus. Young took 62 sacks with a 11-10 touchdown-interception ratio during the two-win campaign.

Carolina has improved greatly in that area. The Panthers currently have the fifth-best pass-blocking grade in 2024, per PFF. Despite that, though, Young has taken six sacks in two games and looked like one of the league’s worst quarterbacks. He owns an NFL-worst 8.9 quarterback rating this season.

Young was pressured on just four of his 29 dropbacks in Carolina’s blowout loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the lowest rate of any starting quarterback, but recorded a quarterback rating of 6.4. The Alabama product missed throws, tried to escape the pocket when he should have stepped up and overall showed a lack of awareness and command.

Young threw for 84 yards on 26 attempts with one interception in Week 2. That was after he completed just 43% of his passes and threw two interceptions in a season-opening beatdown against the New Orleans Saints.

How does this relate to the Patriots? New England’s offensive line ranks 28th in pass-blocking grade this season. That is the offensive line Patriots quarterback Drake Maye will play behind should he be thrown into the mix and replace veteran Jacoby Brissett, who’s been under consistent pressure through two games.

Maye might offer a higher ceiling than Young given his physical skill set. He might have the mental makeup for it, too. That’s something Jerod Mayo and company consistently have highlighted about Maye, who is receiving 30% of practice reps. But at this point, it doesn’t outweigh what the Patriots have in front of the QB.

New England should continue to take its time with Maye, and learn from others who might not have do so in the past.