Getty Image / Grant Halverson
The Carolina Panthers made a blockbuster trade to acquire the first overall pick and take former Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. It’s way too early to make any lasting judgments, but it wasn’t exactly a dream start to Bryce Young’s career in his NFL preseason debut Saturday night.
The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner went first-overall for good reason in the draft. Other than his diminutive size for a quarterback, he can do it all at the quarterback position.
Bryce Young Highlights against Arkansas. #RollTide pic.twitter.com/d3jXodAyGk
— GoatHouseBama (@GoatHouseBama) November 21, 2021
Enjoy 105 seconds of insane Bryce Young highlights
— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) April 28, 2023
Unsurprisingly, he was given the starting nod for the first preseason game under first-year head coach Frank Reich. But, it didn’t go as well as it probably could’ve. The Panthers only got one first down in his three drives against the New York Jets, gaining just 16 total yards.
Here’s a clip of all the snaps Bryce took en route to a 4/6 performance for 21 yards, while suffering a sack.
The Panthers offensive was getting a lot of flak on Twitter.
Matt corral watching the panthers o line fail bryce young how they did him pic.twitter.com/pkL80rEAle
— John (@iam_johnw) August 12, 2023
panthers o line needs to start practicing 8 days a week. like pre season or not why are we letting our QB get hit so much? #KeepPounding
— YooniB (@b_yooni) August 12, 2023
What I’ve learned so far:
1) Bryce Young can take an NFL hit.
2) This is the worst offensive line performance I’ve seen of any team this preseason.
3) Barno needs to make the 53
— Panthers Culture 🥷🏽 (@PanthersCulture) August 12, 2023
That's it for Panthers' rookie QB Bryce Young. He was 4-for-6 for 21 yards, sacked once, hit hard two other times. He was 0-for-2 on third down throws. Bigger worry than Young here was the play of the offensive line.
— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) August 12, 2023
They’re going to get that figured out. Bryce Young is too small to be taking a ton of hits.
The Panthers were thoroughly beaten by the Jets, 27-0.