Bryce Young: Grading the Panthers’ No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick

The Carolina Panthers didn’t exactly have the worst possible 2022 season after what was a nightmare start but there were a lot of glaring needs on the roster. One of those needs was addressed with the No. 1 overall pick on Thursday night in Bryce Young.

Carolina had one of the worst offenses in the league for most of the season as Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield traded off quarterback duties and PJ Walker also played in six games.

Obviously, the front office wants to avoid another disaster at quarterback so it had to go with the best one possible at the No. 1 overall pick. The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner is my pick to have the best chance to be a franchise quarterback from this draft class. He clears what Will Levis, CJ Stroud, and Anthony Richardson bring to the table, in my opinion.

Grading the Panthers’ pick of Bryce Young

It’s obviously not a huge surprise to see Young go No. 1 overall after weeks of this talk and rumors that Bryce was the Panthers’ pick. And it just makes sense.

Young is going to be the best quarterback on the team immediately and it’ll ensure that the Panthers avoid starting Andy Dalton next season. Matt Corral could have been an option after missing all of 2022 with an injury, but he’s far from proven and he was a middle-round guy last year in the draft.

Although he may not be the biggest guy, he’s tough and has a strong, accurate arm. He makes the right decisions as he threw just 12 interceptions in 949 career pass attempts at Alabama. He won’t turn it over much and he had a career completion rate of 66 percent.

With Miles Sanders behind him and Adam Thielen, DJ Chark, Terrace Marshall Jr., and Hayden Hurst to throw to, I think Young will be set up to succeed early on.

I really like this pick for Carolina

Grade: A-