Bradley Bozeman Explains Just How Impressive Bryce Young Has Been

It's looking more and more like the Panthers have something special at quarterback.

We've heard it from draft analysts. We've heard it from Scott Fitterer, Frank Reich, Thomas Brown, Josh McCown, and so on. Now, we're hearing how advanced rookie quarterback Bryce Young is from his teammates.

Following Fan Fest on Wednesday night, center Bradley Bozeman gave some terrific insight on Young's command of the offense and how intelligent he really is. 

"I couldn't tell you a time [he was rattled]," said Bozeman. "I think one of the most impressive things is as a rookie first coming in, there's a lot going on, a lot being thrown at you, a lot in terms of playbook and he comes in and coach gives him the call, he turns around looks at us just pure confidence and just rattles off the call right back to us. He's come in and just absolutely dominated this role that he's been in. Everything he's been asked to do, everything that's been put on his plate, he's stepped up to it. He's done a great job managing it, staying confident, and whenever mistakes happen just moving on to the next play."

When you hear Bryce speak at a press conference, on TV for an interview, or just talking to fans, you get a Troy Polamalu type of vibe -- super chill, laid back, soft spoken, friendly, etc. But when he's in between the lines, it's game on.

"I wouldn't call him soft spoken at all," Bozeman said of how he relays the play in the huddle. "I'd call him more confident. Just even-keeled and confident. I mean, when he steps in the huddle, everybody shuts up and looks. That tells you a lot. There's a lot of huddles I've been in where some people are talking side conversations about the play that happened before. When he steps in, it's silent."

For a rookie to have that type of ownership of an offense is impressive. It explains why he's already been named the starting quarterback despite taking a single in-game snap. And to be honest, having command of the huddle can be the most challenging part of a young quarterback's transition to the NFL. There's that feeling of 'these guys have been around a lot longer than me and may not listen' which can be a bit intimidating. Not for Bryce. 

When you don't have that respect in the huddle, it's difficult to lead the unit. You have a lack of focus, guys complaining, miscommunication, and a lot of punts. Having that "dude" at quarterback with leadership qualities produces a laser sharp focus, brotherhood, chemistry, and a lot of touchdowns. 

But the huddle isn't the only thing Bryce is in charge of. He's even taken over some of the meetings, according to Bozeman.

"I think it was day four or five of camp and we sat down and went over exotic looks as an offense and he ran the meeting. He understands it. He gets it. He knows what he wants to do. He knows how he wants to do it. But he's also not the cocky guy that's like 'it's my way' we talk through things, we get through things and figure it all out."

As I described on the Bleav in Panthers podcast earlier this week, most teams with a rookie quarterback have to invest a lot of time teaching, coaching up, and giving the young man confidence to be able to take control of the offense. 

Just the other day, Frank Reich said that they are already at the stage of wanting to challenge Young to "try some things" to see what he can do and not do and we're not even two weeks into camp. This means the Panthers aren't spending the entire month of August just trying to get him ready for Week 1. Instead, it's as if Young is a veteran quarterback who is getting reps and figuring out what parts of the offense he wants to keep in the playbook and which parts he wants to throw out.

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