Frank Reich reveals what Bryce Young has yet to show him

The Carolina Panthers picked a quarterback that they hope can do it all for them someday in Bryce Young. However, is there anything that the former Heisman hasn’t shown the franchise yet since arriving in Charlotte?

According to head coach Frank Reich, the biggest blank to fill in at the moment is what Young will look like once the reps go live with pads. It’s nothing against the No. 1 pick considering that’s just not the stage of the offseason that they’re at. Still, he wants to reserve some notions of what Young could be in Carolina until they reach the next level of competitiveness.

“We don’t have pads on, we’re not competing at the highest level,” Reich said to the media last week. “That’s not just Bryce. That’s our whole team.”

“But, obviously, for the rookies? You see this happen. You get to OTAs and it’s great, you get a good look at people. But you really don’t know until you put the pads on,” said Reich. “So (we’re) looking forward to that.”

Beyond size, there were next to no complaints about Young coming out of Alabama. After throwing for 8,200 yards and 79 touchdowns on a 65.7% completion rate over his two seasons as the starter in Tuscaloosa, there was a general consensus that he was one of the best quarterback prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft class, if not the best.

With that said, no one is going to know what kind of player that Young really can be as a pro until the NFL season gets a little closer. That’s why Reich is as interested as he is to see what kind of potential that the Panthers’ next QB1 truly has once they get to training camp.

Young embracing mistakes as he learns the ropes as an NFL QB

Panthers QB Bryce Young is currently going through the learning curve that comes with going from college to the NFL. However, he has fully accepted that, as part of that, mistakes are going to come from him in Charlotte.

Young talked about overcoming errors during a press conference this week. He said that everyone within the organization knows that slip-ups are going to happen from everyone on every unit in every practice. That’s why he is more focused on their response to those mistakes and their accountability for them after they make them.

“Mistakes are gonna happen. But that doesn’t mean we have to be satisfied with it,” Young said. “You know, we understand it’s a tough game. On offense, we’re going up against a great defense every day. And vice versa. We try to challenge ourselves, we understand the competition that happens. So we understand that mistakes are going to be made. But, you know, we don’t get complacent in that.”

“When those happen? We try to address them, we try to get better at them. Just because we know it’s gonna happen doesn’t mean that, you know, we can’t have urgency about it,” said Young. “I think, like you said, mistakes are gonna come. And it definitely hasn’t been a perfect OTA for anyone. For any unit, for any individual. But we understand that that’s going to be the case. But, again, at the same time, it’s on us to hold ourselves accountable.”

“The coaches do a great job of holding us accountable, us going back and watching the tape. Learning about it, talking about it,” Young said. “And then we try to do what we can to avoid those mistakes moving forward.”