NFL pundit is convinced David Tepper made Panthers sit Bryce Young

The benching of Bryce Young after two games has folks wondering.

Schuyler Callihan | Sep 19, 2024

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Carolina Panthers

The benching of Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young just two games into the season has everyone talking. In Dave Canales' postgame press conference last Sunday, he repeatedly stated, "Bryce is our quarterback," when asked if there was any thought of turning it over to the veteran, Andy Dalton.

The very next morning, Canales announced that Young would be removed from the starting role for this week's game against the Las Vegas Raiders. However, some are wondering if this decision was completely made by the Panthers' head coach.

David Sampson and Rich Eisen discussed the timeline of events and whether team owner David Tepper had anything to do with it.

Sampson: “You think the coach who was brought in to fix him had the gall to go to the owner and say (bench Bryce)”

Eisen: “Maybe. I know that sounds crazy. Or he’s going into the press and saying, ‘This is our quarterback,’ because he knows the owner won’t countenance anything else and he goes and he just has an epiphany saying we can’t do this right now.”

Sampson: “Overnight? That’s a weird night, isn’t it? I mean, is it possible that he did have that change of heart and convinced the owner and the GM in one set of meetings to change?”

Eisen: “I know that doesn’t sound real. And it sounds more real to have one of the most with the track record, impetuous individuals come in and make an impetuous move. Like, you’re benching the kid.”

Sampson: “That’s what owners do. And when you say, hey, can you sleep on it? Owners don’t like sleeping on stuff. They like to be at the height of their emotion making decisions. And your job as the president of the team is to try to stop that, but you can’t stop it every time.”

I 100% believe David Tepper made the decision to bench Bryce Young, not Dave Canales.@DavidPSamson was cookin’ here. pic.twitter.com/keX0W0Kapo
— Michael Bell (@avl_mike) September 19, 2024

When asked about the move on Monday, Canales took ownership of the decision.

“I want to keep that private," Canales said in regards to his conversations with Tepper. "What I would like to say though is this is something that after I watched the film, I looked at it, had a thought, started working on talking to guys we make decisions with. Certainly a lot of parties involved there. Ultimately, this comes on me and my number one responsibility is to help the Panthers win and this move, I believe, puts us in the best chance to do that this week.”

After re-watching Sunday's game against Los Angeles, Canales met with GM Dan Morgan and Executive VP of Football Operations Brandt Tilis to discuss the QB situation and then met with Bryce Young and Andy Dalton to inform them of the change.