Bryce Young’s ‘excited’ take on new-look Panthers offense

Year one of the Bryce Young experience did not go to well for the Carolina Panthers, but the supporting cast was also viewed as one of the worst in the NFL as well, and the quarterback entering his second season spoke on his excitement for working with new weapons like Diontae Johnson and Xavier Legette.

I’m really excited to have some new pieces,” Bryce Young said, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “Now it’s on us to put the work in, to build the chemistry, to get the reps on the field and to make it translate. I’m grateful the guys are coming in. They all have really good work ethics, great attitudes, great outlooks. We all want the same thing. We all want to win. We all want to contribute to winning in whatever capacity we can. Give all for the team. We’re all excited for that. It’s always good to just have new juice, have different juice. Now it’s on us to do the work to make it translate.”

The Panthers are still viewed as one of the weaker teams heading into the 2024 NFL season, but the main goal is to give Young a chance to succeed and show signs of being a franchise quarterback. That likely would not put the Panthers into contention, but it would signal a positive direction for the franchise and something to build off of going into 2025.

Panthers’ recipe for success in 2024

A successful season for the Panthers in 2024 is as described above, so what will it take for that to happen? The first step is for new head coach Dave Canales to provide stability from a leadership standpoint for Young and the team as a whole.

Young came in and his head coach Frank Reich was fired during the season, which can’t be good for any young quarterback. It might have been the right move, but it just is tough to get off to that type of start in the NFL in that type of situation. Dave Canales has a good reputation from his work with Baker Mayfield in 2023 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Panthers made significant investments along the offensive line this offseason, with players like Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis joining the unit. This is in addition to former No. 6 pick Ikem Ekwonu, who the organization is betting on becoming a franchise left tackle. This unit is arguably more important than the new weapons, as it is hard for a young quarterback to succeed if he is not kept upright.

The new wide receiver trio of Diontae Johnson, Adam Thielen and Xavier Legette should be a big improvement from last year’s group, even though it is not an elite unit by any means.

It will be interesting to see how Young looks in training camp and this upcoming season.