There have been plenty of bad, lopsided, franchise-crushing, what-were-you-thinking trades in NFL history.
You’d be hard pressed to find one that fell apart quicker and more decisively than, first, the Carolina Panthers acquiring the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023 and then, second, completely blowing the evaluation process on who to take with that selection.
Monday, following another Carolina loss, head coach Dave Canales announced the benching of that draft pick, quarterback Bryce Young. Just two games into Young’s second season, he is being replaced by veteran Andy Dalton.
Even though Canales expressed continued support for Young long term, well, everyone has seen this act play out.
If Young isn’t worth playing on a bad team this early in the season for a first-year head coach, then when would he be? If the Panthers so lack confidence in Young’s ability to win games (or just not to lose them) that it’s unfair to the rest of the locker room to trot him out, then how does that change?
Young has completed just 55.4 percent of his passes this season and has thrown three interceptions and no touchdowns. Carolina is 0-2. It follows a disappointing rookie season when he was no better, finishing 29th among NFL starters in Total QBR.
Carolina won just two games last season as Young displayed few skills of a viable NFL quarterback, let alone a franchise winner you’d expect out of the first player drafted. At some point, reality is reality. This time it came quickly.
Young is young and Carolina is a dysfunctional mess, so perhaps there are better days ahead for the one-time Heisman Trophy winner out of Alabama. Right now, though, this has a chance of going down as one of the worst No. 1 overall picks in memory.
But that, as Panthers fans know all too well, is but the start of this nightmare.
A little over a year ago, then Carolina general manager Scott Fitterer and former head coach Frank Reich were so convinced in the potential of the incoming quarterback rookies that they traded wide receiver DJ Moore, first-round picks in 2023 and 2024, and second-round picks in 2023 and 2025 to Chicago to move up from No. 9 to No. 1 overall.
Then they dug in for a talent evaluation before coming to the conclusion that Young was their guy.
“There is consensus,” Reich said. “And we’re excited.”
Soon, no one was excited.
Fitterer was fired in January following the Panthers’ 2-15 season. Reich didn’t even make it that long, canned in November after going 1-10.
Meanwhile, Chicago used the draft picks to take quarterback Caleb Williams, offensive tackle Darnell Wright and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (the 2025 second-rounder is still to come), each of whom started in Sunday’s loss to Houston. Moore, meanwhile, has 11 receptions on the season.
That’s four or perhaps five important players — including a potential franchise QB — for one guy who is now backing up the Red Rifle.
That’s bad, but not the worst of it.
With the No. 1 overall pick, the Panthers had their pick of the entire 2023 QB class. That included C.J. Stroud, who’d starred at Ohio State.
Stroud was, for a long time, the betting favorite to go as the first choice. Instead Carolina went in the other direction, believing in a 5-foot-10 quarterback who became the shortest in the league at his position the moment he got picked. The Texans immediately snatched up Stroud with the No. 2 overall pick.
While Young struggled, Stroud became the offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023 after throwing 23 touchdowns against just five interceptions and led the Texans to the playoffs. This season, the Texans are off to a 2-0 start and Stroud is completing 69.1 percent of his passes with three more TDs and zero picks.
Stroud isn’t just a franchise quarterback; he has the look of a future All-Pro who can lead Houston to serious Super Bowl contention.
And he was right there for the taking — worth giving up all those assets to go get.
Only Carolina chose not to get him, and now its fans — and team owner David Tepper — will get years of watching Stroud — and those draft picks — excel elsewhere.
Not even 17 months later, this looks like a wrap. Just 18 starts in, Bryce Young is heading to the bench, perhaps setting the all-time speed record on a horrible trade and draft decision.
