There are very few, if any players who exude the cool, calm and collected nature Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young does. But is he too cool?
With the team sitting at a sluggish 0-3 start, the theme of the week over at 800 South Mint Street has been “urgency.” So on Friday, head coach Frank Reich was asked if Young’s noticeable uptick in tempo and energy during practice this week was something that came as a request from his staff.
Buy Panthers Tickets“Bryce is like every other guy, right?” he said. “Hey, let’s get better every week. I think some of that is he’s excited to be back in there after missin’ a week. But, yeah, after us trying to clean things up operationally, everybody’s gotta take responsibility in that. Coaches, players, quarterback. So I think Bryce is just, again, doin’ his job—let me take a step up, let me continue to clean up this operation so it’s cleaner. That’s what we saw this week.”
What they saw, according to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, was Young’s best session. Brown told reporters that the rookie was exceptionally exceptional with his enthusiasm and conviction in his return to the practice field on Wednesday.
Reich was then asked if the Panthers have had an “issue” getting Young’s energy up. He shot that idea down immediately.
“Everybody’s gotta be uniquely his own personality,” he replied. “I’m not aware of that, but if that’s what bein’ said—I think after you come off a performance, and really off of three performances where the operation in general can be improved, I think it’s normal to talk like that.
“This is what I would say to every coach and every player, what I say to myself—I gotta be who I am. I’m comfortable in my own skin, Bryce is comfortable in his own skin. I’m gonna be who I am, he’s gonna be who he is. But are we all committed to grow? Yeah, we’re all committed to grow. Well, what does that look like? Well, it looks different for every person, every player.”
Young, who sat out last Sunday’s matchup in Seattle due to his ankle injury, has been cleared for the Week 4 start against the Minnesota Vikings. So, we’ll see if he, Reich and the Panthers have grown since his last time out.
