NFL analyst gets honest about Bryce Young's true potential
Bryce Young has a chance to be the Carolina Panthers’ face of the future. He has to live up to his potential.
Despite Bryce Young's struggles during his rookie year, some NFL analysts aren't willing to let go of the potential he showed while at the University of Alabama.
Young looked out of his depths for long stretches during his rookie season, struggling to push the ball down the field. Part of that has to do with the lack of offensive firepower the Carolina Panthers possessed. As a result, Pro Football Focus analysts Sam Monson and Steve Palazzolo recently explained on The 33rd Team that Young's ceiling is still rather high.
"I still think the ceiling is pretty high,” Monson told Palazzolo. “No. 1, those flashes were there. But No. 2, look at a guy like Tua Tagovailoa and Miami, right? Disastrous early on in his career, and then we saw him completely turn it around once the situation around him improved.
“And that’s a huge part of the Carolina thing last season. People got fired at the end of that season. It was a bad situation, top to bottom around Bryce Young. And obviously—he did very little to elevate it, to make it a better situation. But I think Tua demonstrates the ceiling can still be incredibly high.
“Bryce Young at Alabama, I think, was better than Tua and better in the same kinds of areas. Anticipation, throwing across the middle, reading those kinds of plays and route concepts.”
Young wouldn't be the first rookie quarterback to struggle. Tua Tagovailoa wasn't setting the world on fire during his first run in the NFL. Trevor Lawrence was much of the same.
It took building a solid roster around both of those quarterbacks to reach their full potential.
That is exactly what the Panthers spent the offseason doing, adding Diontae Johnson and Xavier Legette in the pass-catching game. On the offensive line, Carolina beefed up with Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, two guys who will help keep Young upright.
With all the changes made to the Panthers roster, the message is loud and clear: Don't give up on Young yet.
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