Is there a path back?

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. This will be the last SI:AM for a little while. I’m headed out of the country for a week.

In today’s SI:AM:

🙁 Bryce Young gets benched
😀 Kirk’s game-winning drive
🤔 Sid’s interesting new contract

The Carolina Panthers made the aggressive but not shocking decision Monday to bench quarterback Bryce Young in favor of veteran Andy Dalton.

That the team decided to make the move just two games into Young’s second professional season is an indication of how poorly his NFL career has gone—and a sign that he could be playing elsewhere in 2025. At the same time, though, Panthers coach Dave Canales stopped short of saying that Young’s benching would be a permanent move.

“A lot of factors that go into it for this decision. And, ultimately, just kind of landed on my shoulder to be able to make the best decision for our group to give us our best chance to win this week,” Canales said. “And we focus on the weeks, we focus on the challenge at hand. We feel like Andy gives us our best chance to meet the challenge.

“This was my decision. This is our football team. This is trying to win on a weekly basis. And while it’s my decision, I gather information from the people that are critical to making these kinds of decisions. But this is something I felt like gives us our chance to take a step forward in our play style and to be able to compete this week against a really good Raiders team.”

Young is now 2–16 as a starter after Carolina was thoroughly embarrassed in its first two games of the season, losing 47–10 to the New Orleans Saints and 26–3 to the Los Angeles Chargers. He’s thrown for just 122.5 yards per game (the lowest of any quarterback in the league who has started two games), with no touchdowns and three interceptions. He ranks second-to-last in the NFL with 4.4 yards per pass attempt after ranking dead last in that category last year.

Those numbers show why the Panthers opted to make such a drastic move so soon after leveraging their future to take Young with the No. 1 pick in the draft. His tenure in Carolina has been nothing short of a disaster, and the team’s decision to bench him shows that the franchise must at least consider moving on from him in the offseason.

It isn’t uncommon for a team to bail on a highly-drafted quarterback before the end of his rookie contract. Mac Jones and Justin Fields, both drafted in the top half of the first round in 2021, were traded away this offseason after underwhelming starts to their pro careers. But to jettison a former No. 1 pick—who you traded up to take—after just two seasons would be a stunning admission of defeat.

It might be the right move, though. Young simply hasn’t looked like a starting-caliber quarterback and he may never become one. He had an excellent college career at Alabama, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2021, but there were always concerns about how he would adapt to the pro game, especially because of his size. He’s generously listed at 5′ 10″ and weighed in at 204 pounds at the combine, making him the lightest quarterback ever drafted in the first round. Partially because of his below-average size, he also lacks elite arm strength. But his gaudy college stats (80 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions in 35 games), mobility and ability to read defenses made him a coveted prospect.

It’s impossible to tell how much of Young’s struggles can be attributed to his inability to adjust to the pro game and how much is a result of the situation he’s been put in with the Panthers. Carolina is regarded as one of the most dysfunctional franchises in the NFL, and Young joined a team with obvious holes that was thrown into further disarray when coach Frank Reich was fired midseason last year. At Alabama, Young was in a perfect environment to foster success, surrounded by elite talent at every position with an all-time great coach. It’s difficult to go from that kind of stability to a team with as many problems as the Panthers. And Young isn’t the only recent Alabama quarterback to struggle with the transition to the pros. Jones also flamed out after a promising rookie season.

Young’s struggles also raise questions about the trend of NFL teams starting rookie quarterbacks right away. The prevailing wisdom today is that a good quarterback on a rookie contract is the most valuable asset in the league, and so teams want to maximize the amount of playing time a young cost-controlled quarterback gets. But clearly not every passer is ready to make the immediate jump to the NFL, and some of them could benefit from spending some time behind a veteran to ease into the transition.

It’s possible that taking a step back and watching Dalton from the sidelines could help Young take a deep breath, boost his confidence and come back with a fresh outlook that allows him to succeed. But for now, the Panthers’ decision to trade up and take him with the top pick in the draft is shaping up to be one of the worst draft decisions in the history of the NFL.

… things I saw last night:

5. Pablo Torre’s performance on Celebrity Family Feud.
4. The ManningCast’s reaction to the Falcons’ game-winning drive.
3. Mets fans’ reaction to umpire Andy Fletcher’s botched signal after a replay review.
2. Starling Marte’s walk-off hit for the Mets to put them back in playoff position.
1. Spencer Arrighetti’s strikeout of Luis Arraez. Arraez had gone 141 plate appearances without a K, the longest streak in two decades.