Why benching Bryce Young for Andy Dalton makes sense, but might still be pointless

The Panthers, by far the worst football team last year, have somehow managed to be even worse in 2024. Not having a first-round pick makes things difficult, but this version of Carolina is just as unbearable as the last. And at the center of it all is Bryce Young, the top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, who is not only at a career signpost, only 18 games into the season but 36-year-old veteran Andy Dalton was benched completely after two games of the year.

Reading between the coffee grounds, you can see how dysfunctional things are in Carolina right now: Longtime sportswriter Joe Person of The Athletic tweeted that he's “lost the locker room,” and offseason addition Diontae Johnson isn't exactly subtle about trashing the coaching staff in his first year after the humiliating home loss to the Chargers.

Head coach Dave Canales endorsed Young immediately after the game, saying “Bryce is our quarterback” … only to bench him again less than 24 hours later. The Panthers leaked that the Bryce substitution was a decision made by Canales and GM Dan Morgan, which is just an absolutely insane agenda to feel the need to apply pressure, but anything is possible when David Tepper owns your team. Of course, when asked what role Tepper played in this decision, Canales said he would “keep it secret,” which is some sort of code for Tepper being heavily involved.

It seemed like the Panthers – and Tepper in particular – had made strides this offseason to avoid a complete collapse, and perhaps Dalton can still turn things around and make the Panthers a little more competitive than they have been. But benching the first-place team after 18 games, especially one that required so much capital to acquire, is a nightmare.

What a mess.

How terrible is this Panthers team, really? The last time the Panthers had a LEAD in an NFL game was November 2023, and it lasted only 10 seconds. No, that's not a typo, Michael Scott. It happened the week after the Thursday fiasco against Tyson Bagent and the Bears on last year's Thursday Night Football (which led many, myself included, to believe the Panthers have a David Tepper problem). Carolina scored—oh horrors!—an offensive touchdown to take a 10-7 third-quarter lead over the Buccaneers. It lasted as long as it takes Mike Evans to run 75 yards to the end zone, which is apparently 10 seconds. Two weeks later, they beat the Falcons, but Eddy Pinerio's kick went through the upright as time expired. They led by zero seconds, and won! Truly unbelievable.

Since then, they have not had a lead. And 2024 was particularly bleak. The Saints – who might be good on offense this year — crushed Carolina from start to finish. New Orleans' offense was entertaining to watch, but the game was unbearable because of the Panthers' lifeless response. If you watched even a second after New Orleans went into halftime with a 30-3 lead, you're either a passionate Panthers fan or you're betting on some really weird Saints alternate lines. Either way, get some help.

On Sunday against the Chargers, Carolina found a deeper level in this never-ending slump. Watching a Jim Harbaugh-coached team crush an inferior opponent is funny in its own sick, twisted way, but it was just sad to see how inept the Panthers offense and Young were in this game. Bryce was under the least pressure of any quarterback who started in Week 2 and still managed three scores and, er, 84 passing yards on 26 attempts.

When he was pressured, the results were disastrous. On Carolina's second possession of the game, the Chargers caught the Panthers on third-and-5 and launched a blitz that saw them set up the line of scrimmage and put six men on Young. The Panthers quarterback came under pressure, was forced left, drifted toward the sideline and took one of the most unnecessary sacks you'll ever see. Throw the ball away, boy!

Since no one was free, Young did the “right thing” by not forcing a pass into coverage.

But that he took a sack there just shows how mentally broken he is at this point. His third-and-two throw to Adam Thielen later in the game was borderline garlicky. He has zero confidence, and when asked about his confidence in his game, he said his “trust is in the Lord.” Awesome attitude and all, but the Big Guy may have some slightly more important things to do in 2024 than fix the Panthers' offense.

Then comes Dalton and the question is whether he can fix Carolina's offense. The bookies seem to think he will help – after Dalton was named the Panthers' starter this weekend in Las Vegas, the point total rose by almost three points (from 37.5 to 40) and the Panthers fell from 7.5 points to 5.5 points. A tough scene for Bryce.

Dalton will definitely steady the ship; I'm just not entirely convinced he can pull it off. Not because he's a 36-year-old veteran who's resigned to playing the rest of his career as a backup, but because I also have questions about this offense as a whole.

Let's look at the game above again as an example of how the offense could fail in the future.

Let's also assume that Young is unable to check a variety of plays at the line of scrimmage. Why? Well, we know that in Tampa Bay, Baker Mayfield – a veteran – was “allowed a maximum of two plays he can check at the line of scrimmage based on what he sees from the defense” while Canales was OC in 2023.

There's virtually no chance Young got more than two plays, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he had to make the only play called by Canales at this stage of his career.

That said, Young was lined up and it was obvious and clear that the Chargers were putting pressure on him.

At this point, Young needs either a check or a hot route or something else to get the ball out quickly. The Panthers have a lot of opponents in the secondary and plenty of one-on-one matchups. Worst case scenario, it's drop coverage and Young isn't pressured. I would assume Dalton has more freedom to make different plays than Young because of his experience, which would make a pretty big difference, especially with Dalton's experienced eyes diagnosing the defense.

Young also had a chance to get the ball to Thielen quickly on this play, and perhaps Dalton can do the same, possibly getting the first down and keeping the drive alive. At the very least, Dalton isn't exactly throwing a big shot down the sideline. There's definitely room for improvement there.

Dalton probably won't throw the interception Young threw in the second quarter either. After an 11-yard first down run by Chuba Hubbard with about four minutes left in the second quarter – one that gave the Panthers a their first first down of the entire game – Young tried to force a throw into double coverage and, well, just no.

You can see what he's trying to do by hitting Diontae Johnson, who cuts through the middle and throws in anticipation of where his wideout is going to be. But he's locked in on that spot and he's got a cornerback and a driving safety licking their fingers as to where that pass is going.

Three plays later, JK Dobbins sprinted 43 yards for a touchdown to make the score 20-0. The game was over before halftime.

And that's the other thing here. The Panthers defense isn't very good. The roster as a whole is a bottom-tier roster. I'm not bad-mouthing the players either, per se; that's just what happens when you give away good players for Day 2 picks and give away Day 1 picks (and a good player, hello DJ Moore!) for a quarterback who's already on the bench.

Dalton won't be any worse. But he won't save the day. And that quick hook for Young is hard to distinguish from the equally quick hooks we've seen for both coaches — Ron Rivera got a season on call, Matt Rhule's contract might still be paid if Nebraska hadn't intervened, and Frank Reich was the living embodiment of the Abe Simpson restaurant GIF — and quarterbacks — Baker Mayfield was traded in his first season, Sam Darnold somehow lasted two years, Matt Corral didn't play a single snap, Cam Newton got an encore cameo…

Damn, the Panthers gave Teddy Bridgewater 63 million dollars as a free agent and dumped him during the following offseason and I almost forgot about it.

And if that's Bryce Young's win in Carolina — and I'm not convinced it is yet — that will be the worst miss of all. The Panthers gave up several first- and second-round picks, one of which they didn't even send to the Bears, as well as Moore, to get Young. If he only plays 18 games for Carolina and then gets sent elsewhere, that's probably the worst quarterback draft selection of the new CBA era. And quite frankly, for what Carolina paid and who they don't have in CJ Stroud, that could go down even worse than JaMarcus Russell. That's crazy, but not even that great a decision.

We can agree that Young will resurrect his career with Mike McDaniel or another offensive guru later, perhaps even this season if Tua Tagovailoa is out for an extended period with his recent concussion and the Dolphins are willing to trade away a decent pick. I doubt that will happen.

In a perfect world, this is a chance for Young to let some air out of the balloon and get himself in a better frame of mind. He could be back in the starting lineup this year, maybe even as early as Halloween if Dalton is a debacle.

And I understand it. The Panthers had to somethingIf Young keeps playing and looking like this, everyone will be fired after the season, and maybe even sooner. But if recent history is any indicator, this latest move by Carolina is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.