Looking back on the Carolina Panthers’ decision on draft night.
It’s the hot topic around the NFL this week — did the Carolina Panthers make the right decision with the first overall pick? It’s a somewhat unfair question if all you’re doing is comparing Bryce Young’s numbers to C.J. Stroud’s as it goes much deeper than that.
We’re only six games into the season and everything that could have possibly gone wrong for the Panthers, has. Right guard Austin Corbett played a big piece in the offensive line’s success a year ago and will be available for the first time on Sunday against Houston. Left guard Brady Christensen suffered a bicep injury in the season opener and is out for the remainder of the year. Because of those two injuries up front, Carolina has had a heck of a time trying to get the ground game going. And this isn’t breaking news but when you don’t have much of a run game, rookie quarterbacks are going to have issues.
Personally, I think Young is going to be just fine and end up being the answer at the quarterback position for the Panthers for the next ten years. And head coach Frank Reich feels the same way.
“We got the guy we wanted to get. Couldn’t be happier about that. I would say this, I’m happy for C.J., he’s had six good games and I have no doubt he’ll have many more good games. But I know this, when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks or any other position, it’s years not weeks. You can’t put a label on a guy after six weeks or even a year. I’ve seen guys have Pro Bowl seasons and then a year later, fighting to be a backup somewhere else. It’s a crazy league.”
Frank hit the nail right on the head with that last statement. We’re six games into this thing, yet some folks won’t to anoint Stroud as the next great thing and Young as the next draft bust. My thinking is if Stroud is in Carolina and Young is in Houston, are the results any different? I don’t think Stroud would be doing anything better than Young if he was QB1 for the Panthers right now. There are a lot of issues Carolina has to sort through and the quarterback is not one of them. The Panthers made the right choice. Give it some time and you’ll see why.
