BREAKING NEWS: Panthers’ Struggles Star Rookie Stays on the Bench

Panthers’ Struggles Star Rookie Stays on the Bench

For the second time in three games, former No. 1 NFL Draft pick Bryce Young took the field for the final series in a blowout loss for the Carolina Panthers.

After the second game of the season, the Panthers benched Young in favor of Andy Dalton. In the five games since, Young has only seen limited action during two brief appearances.

Despite Carolina’s four-game losing streak and his comments that Dalton’s performance in Sunday’s 40-7 defeat to the Washington Commanders “wasn’t good enough,” Panthers coach Dave Canales has no intention of returning Young to the starting quarterback role.

With Young in the second year of a four-year guaranteed contract and Dalton set to hit free agency after the season, Canales was asked during his postgame press conference if there would come a time when the Panthers needed to “find out what Bryce has got.”

Right now, it’s hypothetical, you know?” Canales responded. “We need to prepare, review this film, and get ready for the Broncos. Andy will be playing next week.”

Young entered the game with 4:55 left on the clock. The former Alabama All-American handed off on first down, completed a 2-yard pass to tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, and then threw another pass that resulted in a 6-yard loss to running back Miles Sanders.

The Panthers punted, allowing the Commanders to run out the last 2:34 for their fifth victory of the season.

Canales mentioned he wanted to get Young in the game sooner, but the Carolina defense struggled to get off the field—a recurring issue—as Washington scored on nearly all its possessions, even after starting quarterback Jayden Daniels left with a rib injury following the first series.

After the Carolina touchdown drive (with 11:38 left), if we had been able to get the defense off the field, we would have put Bryce in,” Canales said. “Ideally, we’d have gotten him a couple of series to play. These are the opportunities to do it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop them, so he only got to play that last drive.”

The Panthers opened the season with heavy losses to the New Orleans Saints (47-10) and Los Angeles Chargers (26-3) before bouncing back to beat the Las Vegas Raiders 36-22 in Dalton’s first start on September 22. However, they then fell to the Cincinnati Bengals (34-24), Chicago Bears (36-10), and Atlanta Falcons (38-20) before Sunday’s defeat to Washington.

Young saw the field with 4:23 left in the loss to the Bears, completing 4 of 7 passes for 58 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions, and also had an 8-yard run. The drive ended when he was sacked on fourth-and-2 at the Chicago 8-yard line.