Bryce Young, quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, is focused on the upcoming season rather than reflecting on last year’s challenges. Speaking Wednesday in Charlotte, Young made it clear he prefers to look ahead.
“Yeah, honestly, I’m not a big look in the rearview kind of guy,” Young said when asked about last season. “I’m excited for this year. I’m excited for this group this year, and I feel great. We all feel great as a team, and we’re excited to compete. You know it’s a long offseason. You miss the game, you miss the sport, and camp was really good.
“It was a competitive preseason, you kind of get to ramp off and get that taste of game playing in the season, and now that it’s here, we’re all super grateful for that.”
Young’s approach comes after being benched early last season before regaining his starting role and finishing strong. His resilience during that period is cited by those around him as a reason for their confidence going into this year.
Head coach Dave Canales highlighted Young’s leadership through adversity: “I wasn’t surprised,” Canales said. “He revealed a lot of his character in that process and showed great leadership. He stayed in front of the team. He did not take a seat in the back and just kind of let this thing play out. He continued to lead.
“And he was sending a message very clearly to me, that this is my team and I respect it. And that’s exactly right, this is a place where we want to create an organization and a football philosophy where this team belongs to the players. We’re all doing this together, but it becomes the most powerful when those guys own it in the locker room.”
Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow also described Young’s outreach after recent roster changes: “I appreciate that Bryce gave me a call on Wednesday or Thursday and kind of told me about his year last year and some things that happened, so he has a lot of perseverance stories to share,” Renfrow said. “And you know, just to have a leader like that in the locker room and some of these other guys have been awesome.”
The Panthers’ lineup has shifted with Adam Thielen traded back to Minnesota and Renfrow returning alongside Tetairoa McMillan and Xavier Legette as receivers. Even with these changes happening recently, Young remains focused on current preparations.
“Like I said before, it’s not a ton of looking in the past and comparing and figuring out right now,” Young said. “We know that the group that we do have, and everyone brings their own things. And for us, it’s making sure that we get people in the right spots, people play like themselves. They’ve been putting the work in they’ve been doing everything great.
“And I’m excited to watch the guys that we have in the perimeter go be the guys. Not everyone gets to see the work that they put in. So I’m excited for them to get to just play, and I have all the confidence in the world in them.”
Canales emphasized mutual growth between himself as coach and Young as quarterback: “I think the cool part about last year was, there’s this cool thing, for both of us really, as his first-time coach and play-caller,” Canales said. “And then for Bryce coming back in and playing the type of ball, and I don’t know if he shares this point of view, but I’m just sharing my point of view. I wanted to prove to him that I can put a really good offense together that you’ll be excited about, and that you’ll be able to help us grow and evolve over the course of time.
“And then I just look at the way he approached it and the way he continues to approach it is to show us, to show his teammates first and foremost, and our Panthers fans, that he’s the guy for this team. So there’s just a real cool mutual respect that I think both of us have kind of grown just over the course of time and just working together daily.”
For Young—and his coaches—the focus remains on present goals rather than past setbacks.
