Bryce Young had a lot of bad games in his first NFL season, but his worst came against the New Orleans Saints. Last December, the Carolina Panthers quarterback completed just 36.1% of his passes for 137 yards and a 48.0 passer rating.
In that game, Young, last year’s first overall pick, had the lowest completion percentage of any starter that wasn’t benched or hurt in 2023. He was that poor.
This offseason, the Panthers hired Dave Canales to fix all that.
The Saints open the season Sunday against the Panthers, a team hoping their new coach can help make the quarterback well worth the lofty price it took to originally acquire him in a pre-draft trade with the Chicago Bears.
Enter Canales.
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator worked wonders in 2023 to rejuvenate quarterback Baker Mayfield’s career. And year before that, he helped restore Geno Smith’s reputation as the quarterbacks coach in Seattle. Just 43 years old, Canales fits the profile of the young, modern quarterback whisperer that has become all the rage around the NFL.
“We played against his scheme and his system last year in Tampa Bay and you see a lot of carryover in what (the Panthers are) doing,” Saints coach Dennis Allen said of Canales. “He’s a guy who has been committed to be able to run the football. Obviously they’ve bulked up their offensive line, a couple of additions inside. ... I see a team that’s well coached.”
The Panthers, as Allen referenced, also overhauled their offense to surround Young with better players. Carolina traded for wide receiver Diontae Johnson, drafted first-round wideout Xavier Legette and second-round running back Jonathan Brooks and spent $150 million on guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis. As bad as Young was in 2023, his supporting cast was arguably even worse.
Will the moves pay off? That remains to be seen, and that’s why this season figures to be crucial for determining Young’s NFL outlook. Despite his struggles, the 23-year-old showed flashes of potential last season, including in a Week 2 loss to the Saints (22 of 33 passing for 153 yards and a touchdown).
But for the first game, Allen said the Saints must adjust to the unexpected.
That could potentially include a vastly improved Young.
“From a schematic standpoint, we have an idea of what the system is like,” Allen said. “And yet with a different quarterback (than Mayfield), I don’t know how they want to utilize him. I have my thoughts but ... when you get into the first game of the season, it’s the team that’s able to adjust the best that’s going to have the most success.”