No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young has not produced the results a team would hope their No. 1 overall pick would produce. Nonetheless, he still has the backing of ownership—even after the most tumultuous day of the Carolina Panthers’ disastrous season.
On Monday, the organization parted ways with head coach Frank Reich—who led their team to a 1-10 record in just 11 games at the position. He also helped lead the way for the selection of Young, which hasn’t exactly panned out yet either.
Owner David Tepper addressed the unstable state of his club this morning, and was asked about the speculation that Reich actually preferred the eventual No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud. He told reporters that Young was the overwhelming decision of the brass, one he claims he didn’t have a vote on.
“On all those decisions—whether it’s the head coach, whether it’s Bryce—I don’t really vote on those decisions until the last piece,” replied Tepper, whom some believe pushed for the selection of Young. “So those decisions are made by the football people.
“Now, look, everything that’s right and everything that’s wrong here ultimately is my fault. I have the final say. But as far as those decisions, whether it’s Frank Reich or it’s Bryce Young, those decisions were made. In the case of Bryce, I believe it was a unanimous decision in the coaches and the scouts—very strong opinions at the time.”
Tepper stated the choice on Young, as well as the one on Reich, came from said football people. And despite suggesting that he had the power to veto those choices, he asserted that he was in support of both.
Unfortunately for Tepper and his football folk—Stroud, not Young, has looked the part of the draft’s crown jewel. While Young has yet to even hit the 250-yard passing mark, Stroud has thrown himself into the Most Valuable Player conversation in heading the upstart Houston Texans.
But Tepper used the final moments of his very brief presser to give Young a huge vote of confidence.
“As far as Bryce Young is concerned—I cannot say this, for myself and I think everybody in this building would share this sentiment—we are totally confident in that pick,” he said. “I think the people that made that pick first would be totally confident in that. Some of them, you could ask. And for me, I’m totally confident in agreeing with that pick.”
