Home NFL What changed between Panthers’ Bryce Young, Andy Dalton amid unique situation

What changed between Panthers’ Bryce Young, Andy Dalton amid unique situation

by Betpredict
What changed between Panthers' Bryce Young, Andy Dalton amid unique situation

Veteran Andy Dalton served as the Carolina Panthers’ temporary starting quarterback over benched second-year pro Bryce Young before Dalton suffered a sprained thumb in an October car accident. 

Young has since made six straight starts and seems cemented atop the depth chart through Week 18. For a piece published Friday, ESPN’s David Newton detailed how the mentor-mentee relationship between Young and Dalton has changed since Dalton was once again relegated to backup duties. 

“That’s gotten better through it all,” Dalton said about his working relationship with Young since the accident. “We grew closer through everything.”

It was shared last week that the Panthers felt that Young enjoying a reset as Carolina’s QB2 behind Dalton this fall “was crucial for” the 23-year-old’s development. While Young was, statistically speaking, probably the league’s worst starting quarterback of the season’s first two weeks, he’s largely looked like a player reborn since being forced back into the starting lineup in late October. 

Over Carolina’s last six games, Young completed 121-of-203 passes (59.6%) for 1,273 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions. He rushed for 111 yards and a score on 22 attempts, and he also took just eight sacks after he was sacked six times over the campaign’s first two contests. 

“The biggest and most surprising improvement that Young has made is his ability to evade pressure,” Ted Nguyen and Joseph Person of The Athletic mentioned on Friday. “He was one of the worst quarterbacks at avoiding sacks when pressured before his benching. According to Pro Football Focus, Young ranked 38th in pressure-to-sack rate from 2023 to the first two games of the 2024 season. Since Week 8, he was ranked fifth best in the same metric.” 

Dalton suggested that Young being more “comfortable” and “confident” helped the first pick of the 2023 NFL Draft take needed steps in the right direction. The 37-year-old indicated he’d like to spend at least one more season sharing a quarterback room with Young. 

“We’re buddies,” Young said about Dalton. “That’s genuinely my dawg. Outside of football, we’ve had a ton of conversations that have nothing to do with football.  Just growing alongside him, it’s easy. We both are always rooting for each other in life.”

On Wednesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that first-year Panthers head coach Dave Canales and general manager Dan Morgan should be allowed to continue a franchise rebuild with the club at 3-10. One would think they’d be keen on keeping Dalton and Young together unless Young’s play regresses in a major way, beginning with this Sunday’s home game against the 5-8 Dallas Cowboys. 

As of Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Panthers as three-point favorites over the Cowboys. 

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