Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers (and Carolina Panthers) defensive tackle Gerald McCoy did some straight shootin’ this week.
On the very first episode of their new podcast McCoy & Van Noy, the six-time Pro Bowl defender and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy talked about the preseason inactivity of a few NFC South quarterbacks. After taking on situation between the Atlanta Falcons and rookie Michael Penix Jr., McCoy turned his attention to the Panthers and Bryce Young—who has yet to play a snap of exhibition ball this summer.
“Y’all were terrible last year. Terrible,” McCoy stated. “Bryce Young, you didn’t play well, son. You didn’t play well. Dave Canales, I love what you did with my Bucs. I love how you showed the world that Baker Mayfield still can ball. You took what his skill set was and you let it shine.
“So hiring you in Carolina was the right hire. It was, because Bryce Young is talented. He’s in the same mold of a Baker Mayfield. A Heisman Trophy winner, a smaller guy, can move around, can make all the throws, can make plays with his feet.”
2023 yielded much different results for Young and Mayfield. The Panthers saw the former pass for just 179.8 passing per game en route to a league-worst 2-15 record while the Bucs saw Canales help the latter hit career-highs across the board on their way to a third straight division title.
McCoy continued.
“But he’s just in his second year,” he added of Young. “And he ain’t C.J. Stroud. So why ain’t he played yet? The only way to get better at football is to play football. It is extremely difficult to get better at football when you don’t play.”
Canales, even today, has remained firm on his thought process of keeping Young and his starters on the sideline this preseason.
“I’m open to playing our guys this week,” Canales said in regards to Saturday’s preseason finale in Buffalo. “The same thing I told you after the game is true, though. We have to look at, ‘What does that group look like if we put everybody out there?’ Are there enough of those guys to say, ‘Man, is this valuable for us to get these reps?’ Once we start to get into the depth of different positions, that kinda forces our hand sometimes on, ‘Can we play our guys?’ Or, ‘Do we need to play them?’
“So, again, today was a hard practice. Tomorrow is gonna be another hard one. So, for me, I have to make sure we get through these two days and I collect that information and make that decision as we go forward.”
Well, we know what decision McCoy would make if he had to.
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