Fantasy Alert: Bryce Young Made '2-3 Wow Throws Most Days' at Canales' Panthers Camp
June 15, 2024
Fantasy managers looking for a deep sleeper at quarterback this season might want to keep an eye on 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young.
Appearing on SportsCenter, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported the Carolina Panthers signal-caller has been making "two to three 'wow' throws on most days" between OTAs and mandatory minicamp under new head coach Dave Canales:
"Here's the feeling from the Panthers after coming out of the spring. They believe Bryce Young made two to three 'wow' throws most days. He was accurate, he showed maturity and taking that easy checkdown instead of trying to force things and he hit big plays off play-action. Now, the nuances of Dave Canales' system, footwork, timing, rhythm, that was there but I was told that's probably going to take a little more time. That's what training camp's for, but they believe he's on the right track so far."
The Panthers made a point of trying to make Young's life easier this offseason. They spent big money in free agency to sign guards Robert Hunt and Damian Lewis to improve the interior of their offensive line.
Carolina's receiver room was given a boost with the acquisition of Diontae Johnson in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers and drafting of Xavier Legette after trading up one spot for the No. 32 overall pick.
Canales' hiring is the most important change for Young. The 43-year-old was the quarterbacks coach for Geno Smith with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022 and offensive coordinator for Baker Mayfield with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023.
Smith and Mayfield had arguably the best season of their careers working with Canales. Smith threw for 4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns and led the NFL with a 69.8 completion percentage in 2022. He won the Comeback Player of the Year award and finished ninth in MVP voting.
Mayfield set career-highs in passing yards (4,044), passing touchdowns (28) and completion percentage (64.3) last season.
Young is not incapable of making plays, otherwise he wouldn't have been the top pick in the draft one year ago.
In a recent breakdown of Young's rookie season, Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports was complimentary of the quarterback for showing "some creation, accuracy and a good understanding for operating the offense" and being able to attack the middle of the field when the offensive line gave him time.
Tice also pointed out Carolina's pass-catchers averaged the fewest yards after the catch in the league (4.1).
Despite having many things working against him, Young still finished with 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 16 starts. These aren't good numbers by any stretch of the imagination, but he's starting from a much higher baseline than, say, Jared Goff in 2016.
After Goff's rookie season, the Los Angeles Rams invested heavily in the support system around him. They hired Sean McVay to be their head coach, drafted Cooper Kupp and signed Robert Woods in free agency.
Goff responded by throwing for 3,804 yards and 28 touchdowns to help the Rams win the NFC West.
If Canales can simplify things so that Young doesn't have to do things on his own in the way it often seemed like he did last season, there's an infrastructure in place that can allow him to perform much closer to the player that Carolina traded up to draft No. 1 just 14 months ago.
Fantasy managers should wait to see if Young is able to translate these "wow throws" into live games before thinking about adding him, but there is plenty of potential here that is worth keeping an eye on going into training camp next month.
