As the first pick in this year’s NFL draft, Bryce Young will probably get a chance to start for the Panthers this season. However, it may not be right away.
General manager Scott Fitterer said the team will take it easy with Young, and the coaching staff will decide when he’s ready to take over as the starter.
“We’re going to rely on our coaches—Jim Caldwell, Frank Reich, Thomas Brown—to decide when it’s right,” Fitterer said, via ProFootballTalk. “We don’t have a timeline. We’re not saying, ‘Hey, this guy’s gonna start the first game or we’re not going to play him at all this year.’ When the time is right or we felt like he’s got enough of a mastery of the offense where he can go out and operate this and be successful, that’s when he’ll be out there.”
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Carolina signed quarterback Andy Dalton in the offseason, giving the team a veteran to lean on in case Young needs to sit for a bit. If Dalton needs to start, the team is prepared for that to happen, and if Dalton needs to be a backup, then he can do that as well.
“If Andy’s the guy to start the season, and he’s the starter right now heading into the season, then he’ll be the guy,” Fitterer. “When Bryce is ready or Matt Corral is ready whoever it may be, that’ll be the time they go in.”
When Dalton was a rookie with the Bengals, he started from Week 1 on, so he is a good resource for Young entering his NFL debut season. Dalton has even been in a similar situation before, as he spent the 2021 season with the Bears as a mentor to Justin Fields in his rookie season.
Even if Dalton gets the nod Week 1, it is only a matter of time before Young takes over, and when he does, a new era of Panthers football will begin.
