The New Orleans Saints have ended their season against the Carolina Panthers the last three years in a row, but would it be too much to ask for Carolina to be their Week 1 opponent in 2023?
After trading up to the first pick in the 2023 NFL draft so they could select Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer says the team plans on benching him. At least at first. Instead, he and head coach Frank Reich have put former Saints backup quarterback Andy Dalton on top of the depth chart.
“We went out and signed Andy Dalton for a reason,” Fitterer told Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. “He played as a rookie. He’s got a lot of experience. He understands his role and he can play good football. If Andy’s the guy to start the season, and he’s the starter right now heading into the season, then he’ll be the guy.”
Fitterer acknowledged that it’s ultimately a coach’s decision, valuing feedback from Reich, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, and senior assistant Jim Caldwell. When they’re convinced Young has earned the opportunity to start, he’ll get it, but they want him to compete for that role in their offense. Fitterer continued: “When Bryce is ready or Matt Corral is ready whoever it may be, that’ll be the time they go in. We say it’s open competition, but Frank did say, ‘Hey, Andy’s he’s our guy right now.’ He’ll walk into the season as the starter and then as you know, the young guys compete underneath him, then they’ll go in when they’re ready.”
Dalton unexpectedly started 14 games for the Saints last season after Jameis Winston suffered a couple of serious injuries and saw his performance nosedive because of it, going 6-8 while committing nearly as many turnovers (9 interceptions and 5 fumbles) as touchdown passes (18). Fitterer and the Panthers can say what they want now, but they probably don’t want him seeing that much action in 2023.
Instead, they’re likely envisioning a similar plan that helped Justin Fields come along for the Chicago Bears in 2021. Dalton started the first two games but was replaced midway through the second quarter in Week 2, with Fields leading the offense to a narrow win over Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals. Dalton started four more games over the course of the season but there was no doubt about it being Fields’ team. Maybe that’s the scenario Carolina is designing now. They could also be lying to everyone with every intention of claiming Young won the starting job by the end of training camp.
If that’s not the case, it sure would be nice to see Dalton starting against his old teammates to open the 2023 season. We’ll find out who the Saints are seeing in Week 1 when the NFL schedule is released on May 11.
