A ton of signs are pointing towards the Carolina Panthers taking University of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young atop the NFL draft. And now, you can add another pretty solid sign to the speculation.
Good Morning Football host and NFL insider Peter Schrager, one of the most accurate mock drafters in the land, released his first set of projections for 2023. He, like many others, are riding the tide into the Carolina with the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner.
Teams I’ve spoken with compare him more often to a point guard than a quarterback, and that’s OK. He’s going to have the collective voices of head coach Frank Reich, quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, senior assistant Jim Caldwell and veteran QB Andy Dalton in his ear. Young’s small stature is a legit red flag to some evaluators; I still think he’s the pick at No. 1. The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner is a natural leader who can be the face of a franchise.
General manager Scott Fitterer didn’t seem to worried about that size during his pre-draft press conference on Tuesday. In addition to shoving aside concerns about the potential of batted passes, he said there’s plenty the team could do to help the 5-foot-10, 204-pounder.
“I think nutritionally, we can do some things to educate him,” Fitterer stated. “Get him in the weight room. You can see, when you really look at his lower body, his lower body has gotten bigger. He’s put on a lot of mass down there. Lot of times, quarterbacks don’t wanna lift upper body because you get bound up.
“But there’s some things—he’s gonna naturally put on size as he ages as well. Again, going back to Russ—I think he came out at maybe . . . might’ve been 206 pounds. He’s at 220 now. Guys just grow. That’s something he can control. That’s something we can help him with. We can’t control the height.”
Well, that sure sounds like a guy who’s ready to draft Young in about a week’s time—and Schrager’s sources are, apparently, right onboard with it.
