Panthers Coach Got Candid on Decision to Bench Bryce Young Early Last Season

Two weeks into his first season as Carolina Panthers head coach, Dave Canales faced an enormous decision.

After helping turn the careers of quarterbacks Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield around as an assistant with the Seahawks and offensive coordinator of the Buccaneers, Canales was hired by the Panthers to do the same for Bryce Young, who entered 2024 coming off a miserable rookie campaign. During his rookie season, Young completed 59.8% of his passes for just 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions over 16 games as the Panthers went 2–15.

Yet Young frankly looked even worse in his first two games under Canales—completing 55.3% of his passes for no touchdowns and three interceptions in back-to-back blowout losses to the Saints and Chargers.

At that point, Young clearly was holding back the Panthers from competing to win games. Though Canales was hired to develop Young, and benching Young would hurt the relationship between quarterback and coach, Canales also could have lost the locker room if he didn't play the best quarterback available.

“I struggled with that [decision] a lot because you see historically what can happen when you have a quarterback [who] comes in and you go through some challenges," Canales told Joseph Person of The Athletic. "Some guys don’t have the resilience to be able to battle through the emotional strain, as well as the football strain combined."

Canales ultimately took the risk and decided to bench Young. Publicly, the decision appeared as if the Panthers were giving up on Young, who was still only 18 games into his NFL career. Accordingly, trade rumors soon followed. The choice garnered negative backlash was not received well by Young or those around him either, but it did pay off.

“I was nervous about that and I struggled with that," Canales told Person. "That decision was not taken lightly. That risk brought out the best in Bryce.”

When Young was thrust back into the lineup after Andy Dalton injured his thumb in a car accident, he began to show improved poise, confidence and play over the rest of his sophomore season. Over the final three games of the season, the Panthers went 2–1 and Young threw seven touchdown passes to no interceptions. In the season finale, Young put together the best game of his career, completing 73.5% of his passes for 251 yards and five total touchdowns in an overtime win over the Falcons.

With his steady improvement over the year, Young solidified himself as the Panthers' starting quarterback heading into 2025. The Panthers have worked on building around him this offseason, and hope to see him take the next steps this season.

Canales credits Young for continuing his leadership and to improve even after he benched the second-year quarterback.

“Bryce, during the season, showed me his leadership," Canales said. "Showed me that even when we were a struggling team, even when I took him out, he stayed in the center of it. And he continued to lead. And for him to have the respect to say, ‘Look, I don’t agree with your decision, Coach.’ But working together to continue to grow this thing means so much.”

It has yet to be seen if Young will live up to his status as a former No. 1 pick in the draft and Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama, but he's earned his job as the Panthers' starter in 2025, and the chance to prove if he can become their franchise quarterback.