Where would the Panthers be if they sat Bryce Young last season?

[frankw]

18 minutes ago, CRA said:

give me Leggette and what Canales did in Tampa….and I think PJ Walker could win more than 2 games as our starting QB this year.  

Given that, Bryce got to win about 6 or I’m beyond done

Even Kyle Allen won 5 games. If we can't at least match that someone needs to be packing their bags.

[CRA]

5 minutes ago, frankw said:

Even Kyle Allen won 5 games. If we can't at least match that someone needs to be packing their bags.

QBs who Bryce hasn’t eclipsed in wins in a single season 

PJ Walker, Vinny T at 126 years old straight off his couch, Kyle Allen, Teddy B.   

Think he has to jump all them this year 

[Johnstonny]

If we sat Young last year...we'd have to wait till 2026 to get a qb...knowing dipper doesn't want to be wrong...

[SmokinwithWilly]

2 hours ago, frankw said:

Even Kyle Allen won 5 games. If we can't at least match that someone needs to be packing their bags.

Bryce's closest comp would be Chris Weinke in 2001. 

[strato]

6 hours ago, WUnderhill said:

Wake up.

[Waldo]

In the mid-form of the season when you start to see the skill set come into play, I guarantee it - knowing what we know now - a lot of people would take C.J. Stroud number one… over Bryce Young. With what we saw this year, hindsight's 20/20. Everyone can go back and say, like bro, C.J. Stroud is a star."  Newton caused a stir with his comments thanks to his close association with the Panthers.

LoL

[CPF4LIFE]

6 hours ago, strato said:

Wake up.

Cam sure did. Lol 

[d-dave]

Well, if we'd sat Bryce then we'd have gone 17~0 on the way to Superb Owl win!  Of course right?

Honestly, it's one of those Schrodinger's Cat situations.  There are an infinite number of possibilities that it could have been between: Worse and Better.  

Dalton would have looked better.  We'd have won more games.  Reich would probably be going into year two with Scott Fitterer at GM.  Would we be a be a better team?

We would have zero idea if Bryce was the dude, kind of where we are now.  Except Bryce would not have had as much adversity.  With QBs in the NFL, you don't have much time to evaluate.  You used to be able to sit guys for a year or two, but now a days, you are up and playing week 1.

I think we'd be in worse shape honestly.  I like how things are going right now under D&D.  I am not sure Fitterer would have done any better in FA or the Draft or if Reich would have shown his coaching acumen any better in 2024.

So instead of changing the past, we have to keep looking forward.  Learn the lessons from the past, but keep moving forward.

[Waldo]

Dalton could have won 5 games before his body gave out. Young won 2. They could have taken the division with Stroud.

The only future worth talking about is who they draft in the top 5 next year. Young's future is a deadend in the NFL.

[DeAngelo Beason]

We would have competed for the division crown.

[mountainpantherfan2]

There are a lot of moving parts to this type of questions and way too many variables to consider to really predict how the outcome would have been any different in 2023 with Dalton starting more than just one game.  But instead of focusing on that Seattle game, another game, and the game following it, are more intriguing to me.  

Week 16 vs Green Bay.  Young had the best game of his rookie season.  23/36 (64%) for 312 with 2 TD and no INT.  Thielen (6/94), Chark (6/98) and Tremble (4/59) all had huge plays in the passing game.

The running game was a different story.  Hubbard (16/43) and Sanders (3/3) combined for just 46 yards rushing.  Mays was starting at LG and Jensen at RG.  The offensive line was able to protect Young just enough to keep the Panthers in the game until the very end.  But this wasn't because they were playing at a high level, rather the Packers defense played horrible this game. But this horrible defensive effort by the Packers allowed us to see what could be possible if Young had time to process and throw.

Fast forward to Week 17 vs Jacksonville.  The offense was shut out and the offensive line allowed 6 sacks and 8 more QH's.  

If you go back and watch these games back to back, the line play if very noticeable.  When Young had time in process and move, he was spot on.  When the line collapsed, like most QBs, he was ineffective.

When you draft a QB 1st overall in the draft, especially if you trade up to do so, you hope to get a QB that can make plays despite the struggles around him.  Think Newton his rookie year.  Should the Panthers have traded up in the 2023 draft to the 1st overall and should they have drafted Young at that spot? My opinion is no to the first question and no QB in 2023 was worth trading up to take in the top 10.  Neither Stroud, Richardson or Levis would have been worth it.  

But none of them would have fared any better than Young either with the Panthers, in my opinion.  Stroud had a good season in Houston but he didn't have a Cam Newton or Lamar Jackson season.  He needed slightly above average talent in one of the worst divisions to make the playoffs. He had the season we were hoping for in Carolina but wasn't going to get with Young or Stroud.

Now, I'm not trying to put Young up on a pedestal here.  There are a lot of questions that still surround him and his ability to be QB1 on the Panthers in the future.  But the issue last year wasn't just the play at the QB position.  And really, I don't think the WR issues were as much as people make them out to be.  The real issue on this offense was the line and the running game.  If your line can't get a push to run the ball or pass block to pass the ball, you have no offense.  

Start Young. Start Dalton.  Draft Stroud, Richardson or Levis.  Kidnap Mahomes.  Doesn't matter, I think the end result would have been the same. 

[CRA]

34 minutes ago, mountainpantherfan2 said:

 Start Young.  Kidnap Mahomes.  Doesn't matter, I think the end result would have been the same. 

[WUnderhill]

13 hours ago, strato said:

Wake up.

“Agree with my assumptions because I say so.”

[strato]

Underhill, it was being discussed At The Time. The lack of deep balls. One reason Dalton got hit, yes, was standing in and delivering a deep ball.

It’s just a lot quicker to say wake the fug up where have you been. 

Edited May 3 by strato