Some within the NFL community were shocked to learn last week that first-year Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales had benched second-year quarterback Bryce Young in favor of veteran Andy Dalton.
It appears some within the Panthers knew months ago Dalton was the better option as it pertains to the club finding success this month.
“Young had to sit down because he was repeating too many of the same mistakes and it didn’t look as if it would get better,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano explained in an article published on Wednesday. “But also, everyone you talk to in Carolina says Andy Dalton looked great all offseason, and the team believed the offense would be considerably better if it put the veteran in. The locker room surely was feeling that.”
Carolina hired Canales this past offseason largely because his previous work with undersized quarterbacks suggested he was the perfect offensive guru to “fix” Young following the 23-year-old’s rough rookie year. There were no public indications as of early September that Panthers players doubted Young’s ability to turn things around, but it was reported last week that the “mood around the (Carolina) locker room” impacted Canales’ handling of the club’s QB1 situation following the team’s second straight blowout loss of the campaign.
According to Pro Football Reference, Young enters Week 4 ranked last among qualified players with a 9.1 adjusted QBR and a 44.1 passer rating on the season. He’s 30th out of 31 quarterbacks with a 29.0% passing success rate and 29th with a 55.4% completion percentage.
Dalton completed 26-of-37 passes for 319 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in Carolina’s 36-22 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders this past Sunday. Graziano didn’t directly say so, but it certainly sounds like at least some Carolina players think the club would’ve been more competitive in the season’s first two contests had Dalton been named the Week 1 starter over Young.
As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Panthers as 4.5-point underdogs for this Sunday’s home game against the 0-3 Cincinnati Bengals. Even if Dalton loses that matchup, it seems he’s in no danger of being leapfrogged on the depth chart by Young anytime soon.
