The Carolina Panthers made the shocking decision Monday to bench Bryce Young, the first overall pick in the 2023 draft. After playing 16 games as a rookie and the first two games of this season, Young will now watch from the sideline as Andy Dalton tries to right the ship in Carolina – a near-impossible task given the Panthers’ roster.
Some already believe Young’s time with the Panthers could be coming to an end, especially considering he was drafted by the previous regime and not current head coach Dave Canales. Trade ideas have been floated and on Tuesday, Dan Orlovsky pitched the Rams as a team that should consider trading for Young.
This obviously wouldn’t be to replace Matthew Stafford in 2024, but with the Rams QB nearing the end of his career and Los Angeles having no succession plan in place, it’s not a completely outrageous idea.
“If I were the Los Angeles Rams, I would probably make the call,” Orlovsky said on the Pat McAfee Show. “This is kind of why teams go through their quarterback evaluations in the draft process, even though they’re unlikely to be drafting one where those guys are expected to be drafted. The Rams might’ve absolutely loved Bryce Young coming out of the draft last year, so this might be a situation now of Matthew’s older, their team has been absolutely destroyed by injuries and their perspective on their season is kind of very different right now.”
https://twitter.com/danorlovsky7/status/1836112506810716423
Who knows if the Panthers would even entertain the possibility of trading Young less than two years after spending the first pick on him, but it’s not out of the question. He’s looked out of place and overmatched in his first 18 starts, going 2-16 in those games with 11 touchdown passes and 13 picks – including zero touchdowns and three interceptions this season alone.
Young has arguably been the worst starting quarterback in the NFL since last season.
He’s in a terrible situation with the Panthers and perhaps a change of scenery would do him some good, but cutting ties with the top overall pick this early is almost unheard of.
Then there’s the question of what it would take to acquire him. Even as a former first overall pick, it probably wouldn’t require more than a Day 3 pick. The Patriots traded Mac Jones for a sixth-rounder this offseason after only three years in Foxborough. The Bears got a conditional fifth for Justin Fields and he was the 11th pick in 2021.
The Rams could use a young quarterback to develop for a year or two until Stafford retires or they move on from him, and it doesn’t look like Stetson Bennett will be that guy. It most likely isn’t going to happen, but Orlovsky isn’t completely crazy for floating this idea.