Panthers HC Frank Reich gives Bryce Young rave reviews after first day of OTAs

The Carolina Panthers kicked off the first of 10 OTA practices on Monday with new quarterback Bryce Young receiving rave reviews from his head coach. Frank Reich said Young’s command was “10 out of 10,” which is exactly what you want to see in a no-contact practice.

“Just complete command, control, poise,” Reich said after Day 1. “You could tell the way he was seeing it, the way he was working through progressions, accuracy in the throw, ball placement of the throw, it was all very good.”

The Panthers made headlines last week when the general manager insisted that the first-round draft pick isn’t guaranteed to start this season.

Having veteran Andy Dalton on the roster does give Carolina an option if Young isn’t ready, and provides the younger quarterback a mentor in the meantime. Reich is on board with the idea of the former Alabama star watching and waiting, for now. The two quarterbacks split reps with the first-team offense on Monday.

“It’s really good for Bryce to kind of see Andy handle things the way he’s handled things,” Reich said. “And, obviously, Bryce has picked it up extremely fast. But it feels like we’ve got a good plan and we’re doing the right thing.”

At this rate, it seems like Young could grab the starting job at any point. OTAs make up four weeks of practices with no pads (except knee and elbow pads and helmets) and no live contact. However, teams can still run 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. They provide a key opportunity for the quarterbacks to battle it out without the added pressure of live tackling.

Panthers prepared for Dalton, Young or Corral

According to Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer, their move to go for Young at No. 1 overall doesn’t necessarily mean he will start on Day 1.

According to Fitterer, there is no set “timeline” to get Young on the field in the regular season, especially since they brought in a veteran QB in Dalton as a stopgap.

“We’re going to rely on our coaches — Jim Caldwell, Frank Reich, Thomas Brown — to decide when it’s right,” Fitterer said. “We don’t have a timeline. We’re not saying, ‘Hey, this guy’s gonna start the first game or we’re not going to play him at all this year.’ When the time is right or we felt like he’s got enough of a mastery of the offense where he can go out and operate this and be successful, that’s when he’ll be out there.

“We went out and signed Andy Dalton for a reason. He played as a rookie. He’s got a lot of experience. He understands his role and he can play good football. If Andy’s the guy to start the season, and he’s the starter right now heading into the season, then he’ll be the guy. When Bryce is ready or Matt Corral is ready whoever it may be, that’ll be the time they go in. We say it’s open competition, but Frank did say, ‘Hey, Andy’s he’s our guy right now. He’ll walk into the season as the starter and then as you know, the young guys compete underneath him, then they’ll go in when they’re ready.”

Dalton has experience being the transition quarterback for a franchise developing a young signal-caller. When he was with the Bears, he served as a starter as Justin Fields readied to take over the offense.