The Carolina Panthers shocked fans and pundits across the NFL when they benched young quarterback Bryce Young last season in favor of veteran Andy Dalton. Young eventually reclaimed the starting spot after Dalton was sidelined following a car accident and never relinquished the starting role.
Although Young showed improvement in his return to the starting role, the team still isn’t quite ready to make a long-term commitment to the young gunslinger.
“Bryce is an ascending player,” Panthers executive vice president Brandt Tilis said, according to The Athletic. “So I don’t want to sit here and make any kind of promises, any kind of statements about what we’re thinking about for Bryce’s contract or anything like that, and Bryce would probably be the first to tell you – Bryce needs to focus on football and being the best version of himself, and the contract stuff will get figured out.”
Fans reacted to Tilis’ statement on social media.
“That’s good. He’s still the Panthers QB so he won’t do well,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“This dude is a Colossal Bust, imagine picking him ahead of CJ Stroud. That’ll haunt the Panthers for years to come,” another fan added.
“Giving him a 5 year max would be a huge mistake. we got to stop giving to to players just because it’s their turn to get paid,” someone else added.
It’ll be interesting to see if Young forces the Panthers’ hand with his play this season.