Panthers GM Dan Morgan on how benching helped Bryce Young break through

In 2024, the Carolina Panthers hired Dave Canales—the former offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—to be their new head coach. The franchise also gave assistant GM Dan Morgan the title of president of football operations/general manager.

The club was coming off a 2-15 season, most of that with 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young at quarterback. After an ugly 0-2 start in ’24, Canales sat down a struggling Young in place of veteran Andy Dalton. An injury to the latter gave Young a chance to get his job back, and he wound up starting the final 10 games. He threw 15 TD passes compared to only a half-dozen picks, and he also rushed for five touchdowns. The Panthers were 4-6 in those 10 contests.

On a recent edition of The Rich Eisen Show, Morgan talked about Canales’s move (courtesy of Essentially Sports) that wound up paying off. “I think coach Canales did a great job of just like, making a hard decision. It was a hard decision to, you know, bench Bryce after the second game of the year. And for him to do that and being a first-time head coach, not a lot of guys would do that in that type of situation. So, for him to feel that that was going to be the best thing for Bryce and I thought it was a great move by him and what was best for the organization.

“And Bryce,” added Morgan, “he took it running, and he was out there, it gave him a chance to sit back, watch Andy Dalton out there in the huddle, run the huddle. and just take a step back and just take a deep breath, relax a little bit and just kinda gather his thoughts. We knew he was going to come back at some point and we knew he was going to play good. Bryce is a competitor.”

Morgan had glowing praise for this two-year signal-caller. “He’s one of the hardest workers that I’ve ever been around. I knew that this wasn’t going to keep him down for long. He’s resilient. He loves the game. He’s just passionate about everything that he does. So, to see him come back and end the season that the way he did, it was awesome to see. And it was actually really just a proud moment for myself and you know just the organization to know that we have our franchise quarterback.”

If Young can build on last season’s strong finish, this could be an exciting season in Charlotte.

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