When loathsome creep Dan Snyder sold the Washington Commanders in 2023, the NFL was rid of its worst owner. It took $6 billion to do it, but he was finally gone. Inevitably, that meant someone else among the 32 teams would have to assume the title. Well, hang that banner, Carolina Panthers fans—your team's earned it.
With Sunday's 26-3 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Panthers are 31-70 since hedge fund manager and all-around prick David Tepper purchased the team in 2018. It's the worst record in the league over that span; the New York Jets were tied with them until they won in Week 2. All issues can be traced back to ownership. Basically each year Tepper kicks off a new era of the Panthers, but he lacks the awareness, temperament, or patience to allow any of them to succeed. The latest problem with the team is its management of sophomore quarterback Bryce Young.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales announced on Monday that he would be benching Young, the 2023 first overall pick, two games into the season. Andy Dalton, who at this point in his career exists for mop-up duty, will start Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders. After Sunday's loss, Canales claimed that Young would keep the job; the next day, he said he changed his mind on QB1 after reviewing the game film and a discussion with Panthers front-office executives Dan Morgan and Brandt Tilis. Canales said it was his decision to make, but did not address whether Tepper had any input. "Certainly a lot of parties involved there, and ultimately this comes on me,'' the coach said.
Canales, previously the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was hired because of how his contributions turned Baker Mayfield from a written-off top pick into a solid starting quarterback. This past March at the NFL Combine, the coach laid out his plan to develop Young:
"I just see a really accurate player, a real decisive player,'' Canales said of Young. "For him, some of the basic things, that for any quarterback improvement is footwork. Let's continue to grow more specific to the pass concept, more specific to who is this person running this route?
"Three different receivers run the same route, it could be three different things. That's a coaching thing. Maximizing some of his abilities are going to help that.''
Young has not been accurate, decisive, or maximized yet. The most auspicious part of his rookie campaign was in late December, with his first 300-yard passing game in an overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers. It showed promise that hasn't been repeated so far under Canales: In Young's two starts, he has 245 passing yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions. His 5-foot-10 height has felt like more of a glaring issue with his poor play, and his receivers are suffering.
Adding to the agita is a reminder of how much the Panthers traded to the Chicago Bears in order to draft Young in 2023: two first-rounders, two second-rounders, and wide receiver D.J. Moore. Whether the Bears will capitalize on this bounty remains to be seen—it's still Caleb Williams versus years of franchise quarterback ineptitude—but the point is that the Panthers haven't. They gave up so much for someone who was just benched in favor of 36-year-old Andy Dalton.
Aside from experience with developing QBs, there's another reason why the Panthers hired Canales: He was one of the few coaches willing to take the job. Frank Reich was fired after a 1-10 start last season in his first and only year with the team. Matt Rhule was canned not even halfway through a baffling seven-year contract. Carolina has cycled through seven coaches in the Tepper era, including interim guys and Ron Rivera, who was already employed for a while before the ownership changed. Working for the Panthers is résumé poison. The hope is that Canales, who received a six-year contract this past offseason, can survive longer than his predecessors, but that relies on his owner not making yet another rash decision.
It's hasty to already conclude that Young is a bust or Canales is a dud, but their likelihood of success is diminished by their environment. Panthers fans might agonize over not drafting C.J. Stroud instead of Young, but they should take solace: It wouldn't have made a difference. Put Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes in Carolina, and that team would find a way to go 4-13.
Tepper's stink hangs over this sorry organization in every decision it makes. He put together this new brain trust, one which already looks overmatched after two games. There are so many goons and crooks in the NFL ownership ranks, and within eight years, he's made a name for himself. He's arrogant, thin-skinned, and rash. He does not know ball. He started a feud with a restaurant over a sign. As his first-year head coach struggles with the development of a quarterback who can't throw anything longer than a five-yard pass, know this: David Tepper will find a way to make the situation worse. It's like Dan Snyder never left.
