Panthers coach Dave Canales insists on sticking with Bryce Young at QB... for now

Carolina doesn't seem to be getting any better at the game's most important position, but Dave Canales won't make a change yet.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 15: Quarterback Bryce Young #9 talks with head coach Dave Canales of the Carolina Panthers talks with at Bank of America Stadium on September 15, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. / (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Quarterback controversies tend to begin around Week 4 in the NFL. These 2024 Carolina Panthers are imploding at an accelerated rate, though, so theirs has arrived two weeks early. Even compared to last year's atrocious two-win squad, this team is falling well short of any reasonable standard of execution on offense. While there are a lot of problems to go around, the biggest one is that right now this team couldn't throw the ball well if their lives depended on it.

Even though the chorus calling for second-year quarterback Bryce Young to get benched is growing with every putrid performance, head coach Dave Canales is sticking by his guy. Here's what Canales said about Young following his team's loss on Sunday to the Los Angeles Chargers, per Joe Person at The Athletic.

Dave Canales on Bryce Young starting

"Bryce is our quarterback. I'd love to see this team just continue to take the next steps offensively... Bryce is our quarterback. We're gonna shore up the things we need to offensively, from a scheme standpoint, all those things. These are all valuable reps. These are all valuable games and hopefully we'll take another step this week."

Something that Canales and Young have in common is that the job is starting to sound too big for both of them. The confidence that Canales displayed speaking with the media during the offseason has disappeared, and it was never there for Young to begin with.

Unfortunately, right now the Panthers don't really have any other legitimate options to start at quarterback that provide value. Primary backup Andy Dalton might give them a better chance to win, but he's in the twilight phase of his NFL career and won't be the long-term starter no matter how much better he may be than Bryce Young right now.

The team's other option, undrafted rookie Jack Plummer is unlikely to qualify as an upgrade over Young, considering he has no experience at all working with the first-team offense. It would take several weeks for him to get up to speed even if they started that process today. For now, the Panthers have little choice but to keep putting Young out there and hoping that he shows some kind of improvement.

If that doesn't happen, their best hope lies in an upgrade via trade. Last week we examined several options to target, including Sam Howell and Drew Lock.

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