As expected, No. 9 is No. 1.
The Carolina Panthers kicked off their very first set of team drills in their very first practice of 2023 training camp with rookie Bryce Young under center. Young’s status as the offense’s first-string quarterback should, of course, come as no surprise—as head coach Frank Reich and his staff have made their intentions with the No. 1 overall pick quite known.
“He’s going into training camp as the No. 1 quarterback; we made that transition with about two weeks to go into OTAs,” Reich recently told MMQB’s Albert Breer. “We didn’t make any big deal of it; we didn’t hold any big press conference. We just did it. That was always the plan. … We’d started talking about, O.K., Andy’s going to take first-team reps. Let’s just assume that everything goes the way we think it’s going to go—when’s the best time to make that transition? And that’s kind of what we had determined. And then things went the way we thought they would go.
“We were willing to adapt and adjust, if needed, but we didn’t need to.”
The newly-turned 22-year-old, who jumped ahead of veteran and former Pro Bowler Andy Dalton back in OTAs, seemingly got off to a relatively okay start in Spartanburg as well.
Bryce Young 11 on 11
Play 1: Run
Play 2: Complete to Adam Thielen
Play 3: Run
Play 4: Complete to Thielen
Play 5: (distracted)
Play 6: Run
Play 7: Complete to Shi Smith
Play 8: RunAndy Dalton INT on his first throw. Crowd not happy.
— Will Kunkel (@WillKunkelFOX) July 26, 2023
Bryce Young 11v11: Round 2
Play 1: Pass deflected at line❌
Play 2: Complete to Thielen (great low ball placement towards sideline)✅
Play 3: Run, Chuba
Play 4: Run, Brown
Play 5: play action incomplete. Under pressure throw away. ❌
Play 6: comeback route to Laviska✅
Play 7:…— Will Kunkel (@WillKunkelFOX) July 26, 2023
Bryce Young DEEP over the middle to DJ Chark for about 35-40 yards.
— Will Kunkel (@WillKunkelFOX) July 26, 2023
Bryce Young ➡️ Adam Thielen
Panthers offense in-sync here at first day of training camp at Wofford pic.twitter.com/I1BfA3q8ia
— Trey Stewart (@treyatcitizen) July 26, 2023
