The Denver Broncos may have at least one win on their schedule when they host the Carolina Panthers in Week 8 of the 2024 season. This bombshell dropped on Monday:
BREAKING: The #Panthers are benching Bryce Young and will start Andy Dalton in Week 3 vs. the Raiders, per NFL Network. pic.twitter.com/TdtyE8UiW0
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 16, 2024
Wow. After just two starts in the 2024 NFL Season, the Carolina Panthers will be sending Bryce Young to the bench in favor of Andy Dalton, the team's backup QB. This is a major move and could be a signal that the Panthers are done with Young. The regime that drafted Young isn't even with the team, so this is essentially another rookie season for the passer.
Now to be fair, Bryce Young has been thoroughly awful during his NFL career thus far, and Andy Dalton is a significantly better quarterback than Young. This could be a scenario where the Panthers try and get some juice going on offense and allow Young to reset a bit. I could see Dalton getting a large handful of starts and going back to Young when the QB can decompress on the bench.
The Panthers took Young with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft over CJ Stroud, who has turned into a top-4 quarterback in the NFL. Young has probably been the worst starter in the NFL since the start of his career, and it's now leading him to the bench.
The Denver Broncos play the Carolina Panthers in Week 8, which is the end of October. The Broncos will play five games before their Week 8 tilt, so this could actually line up perfectly with what Carolina may do with Young.
Honestly, the Denver Broncos should hope that Bryce Young is inserted back into the lineup when the two teams meet in Week 8. Heck, Denver may end up winless before this Week 8 game at this rate. And the thing Denver wants to avoid here is having to bench QB Bo Nix during his second season. Nix has played relatively poorly through his first two games but did play a lot better from Week 1 to Week 2.
It does not help that even the Panthers have better offensive weapons than the Broncos do, so we cannot fault Nix for the four interceptions and zero touchdown passes. When the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers meet in Week 8 of the 2024 NFL Season, it may turn into one of the ugliest games on the season for the NFL.
But the Broncos may have to deal with Andy Dalton and not Bryce Young.