After holding onto him at the trade deadline, the Carolina Panthers are sticking with Bryce Young for the time being.
The Panthers will start Young on Sunday in their matchup with the New York Giants at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, head coach Dave Canales announced Wednesday. It will mark Young’s third straight start after reclaiming the job from veteran quarterback Andy Dalton — who has been recovering from a thumb injury he sustained in a car crash.
Young led the Panthers to a 23-22 win over the New Orleans Saints last week, thanks to the first game-winning touchdown drive of his career.
“This is about the progress from one week to the next,” Canales said, via ESPN. “I talk about finishing all the time. That’s everything. Finish plays, practices, quarters, halves. Finish games. He did a fantastic job of finishing [last week’s] game the right way, finding a way to win and really battling that way.”
Young was 16-of-26 for 171 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the win over the Saints, which marked Young’s first win of the season. The Panthers are 2-7.
Young was benched after back-to-back losses to start the year in favor of Dalton, and he was the subject of trade rumors ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.
But after Dalton was injured in a car crash, the Panthers went back to Young and have stuck with him ever since, even when Dalton was cleared to return. General manager Dan Morgan said he “never opened the door” to discuss trading the former No. 1 overall pick, either, because he “didn’t want to.” Whether Young remains the Panthers’ quarterback long term, however, remains to be seen.
“Every week we’re assessing Bryce, taking it day by day of just seeing him grow, seeing him develop, be under coach and work with him,” Morgan said, via ESPN. “We’re excited to see him growing every day. We’re excited to work with him in the future.
“At the end of the day we’ll have those conversations [about long term] once the season ends and we’ll see where we’re at.”
The Giants are also 2-7 entering the matchup in Germany. They’ve lost four straight and sit at the bottom of the NFC East standings.
While Young’s future in Carolina is still very much up in the air, he has the chance to do something on Sunday that the Panthers haven’t seen since the start of the 2021 campaign: lead them to back-to-back wins.
