Camp Observations: Bryce Young taking some chances, showing comfort (2024)

CHARLOTTE — As Panthers head coach Dave Canales builds an offense around the strengths of quarterback Bryce Young, there are certain things he's expecting, and certain areas where he's looking for growth. And one of those things he doesn't mind seeing is the occasional interception.

Young was picked off by safety Xavier Woods on a deep ball during Sunday morning's practice, and if that's the only thing you saw, you might think it was a bad day. But that would ignore the other things he's doing well — like moving out of the pocket and finding Diontae Johnson on the fly, which has become a thing this camp.

Canales mentioned that "resilience" was one of the things he wanted to see, so seeing Young try one deep is a positive.

"We've got to challenge our throws, we got to challenge ourselves and the receivers as well for those opportunities," Canales said. "We're going to look at it. We're going to see what happened, and you know where exactly Xavier was on the play.

"But if we're not getting interceptions, we're not trying, you know, and we need to take those shots down the field so that we can hone it in so that we can become really crisp as we take those shots down there."

Part of that is something that will only get solved by experimentation, but also by communication. So it's not a surprise that after Sunday's practice was over, Young remained on the field with a handful of his receivers talking through things, not throwing passes, but getting on the same page immediately afterward.

Veteran wideout Adam Thielen said he's sensing more comfort from Young this year and that it's showing up on the field at times when he puts the ball up for himself or Johnson, and it turns into a play.

"I think it's him just feeling really comfortable and trusting in it," Thielen said of the difference in Young this camp and last. "Maybe some of those throws, he wouldn't have even attempted last year. I don't know why, but I would imagine a lot of it is just comfortable in the system and what he's doing in his footwork. I don't know. I'm not in his head but, but that's what it feels like to me, just comfortable in what he's doing.

"His reads are how he's progressing, and then just trust in that, that we're going to make those contested catches, and we need to continue to do better individually. I need to do better at that just to help him trust that he can throw it when there is a defender on your back, that we're going to still make a play and come down with it."

As a whole, Thielen said he's seen definite progress from his quarterback. Canales has talked about speeding up his release, and without putting him on a clock, Thielen said it feels right now.

"It just feels like it's on time this year, and honestly, he was probably too quick a lot of times last year," Thielen said. "You can just really see that he's just trusting his progression, right?

"He's going through his reads, he's finding guys in rhythm and timing. Not to say that he wasn't on time. He was probably too on time sometimes last year just because the way that he sees the game, he can see coverage, he can see things processing quicker than a lot of guys."

— Sunday's practice was in full pads, and included several segments of live move-the-ball drills in particular game situations. They aren't tackling to the ground (that would asinine), but it was a high-tempo session in advance of this week's practically live (except for the quarterbacks) work against the Jets.

"We got after it today," Canales said "Had a nice move-the-ball period right in the middle,, short-yardage and goal-line periods, really just to get the physicality of the play. The aggression and the physical nature of the play were there, which was fantastic.

"So I challenged the guys this morning, I challenged them that this was going to be a tough practice and how do we respond? And they responded great. They responded with flying to the ball, in all phases, both sides, offense, defense, and special teams. And it always means a lot to me when the guys respond to a challenge. So they really showed me something about this group."

— Kicker Eddy Piñeiro didn't get a chance to kick during last week's game in New England (he and Harrison Mevis were alternating halves, and there were no chances in his first half), but he's looking forward to this week's game.

Specifically, he seemed excited about a chance to kick off, and get his chance to experiment with the new return rules and how he'll handle it.

"Hopefully I can show one here on Saturday," he said. "We've got something cooking."

As much as teams are trying lots of new things during the preseason while everyone learns the new rules together, Piñeiro said he expects it will be well into the regular season before it settles into anything routine.

"I mean, is it even going to stay?" he asked. "I've been looking at some preseason games, and a lot of flags have been thrown; guys aren't getting it to the landing zone. It's happened to me in practice getting the ball into the landing zone to try to hit like a driver and different things.

"But yeah, the question is there, I'm very curious if they're going to keep it or if they're going to go back to the old rules, you know? I don't know."

— As one of the elders around here, Thielen gets a chance to weigh in on big-picture topics. And as one of the elders around here, he probably needs less time in the preseason than others might. It's going to be hard to show Adam Thielen something he hasn't seen in his previous 11 years and 10 seasons in the league.

He mentioned how much he needed a physical practice like Sundays to feel ready for the season, but stopped well short of saying they needed to play in a preseason game.

"No, I don't think so," Thielen said. "That's not my decision, but I think the way that you can tell that the coaches have a very clear plan, right? Today was a next step in that plan. A lot of move-the-ball, a lot of just situations, . . . There was a very clear plan of what today looked like. It wasn't just roll the ball out there and play football. It was trying to simulate real football.

"I think the more you do that, obviously, if the Jets coming here and, and facing another team is another step to that process, and now if they want us to play preseason games, we'll play preseason games, but I think there's a clear cut plan in what they're trying to accomplish to get us ready for Week 1."

The Panthers have taken some criticism for not playing their starters last week, but of the 30 teams that have played their first preseason games so far, 15 of them chose to park their starting quarterbacks. Guys such as Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, and Josh Allen played a small amount this week, but Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts and Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa didn't play at all. Everyone does it differently, but Canales has plenty of company in protecting his starting quarterback.

— Canales was asked whether any of the injured players on the sideline would be ready to practice against the Jets this week (the group that includes Tommy Tremble, Andy Dalton, and a few others), and he said that was unlikely.

He also pointed to a longer absence in store for backup tackle Yosh Nijman, who remains on the physically unable to perform list.

Canales said that as Nijman recovers from a "reinforcement surgery" in his leg, the prognosis is a bit longer than some of the other players on the sideline.

"We have to be so smart with guys coming off of these things," Canales said. "He's part of our progression and we'll keep ramping him up daily, trying to get him ready to go."

— Stop us if you've heard this before. Quarterback Jack Plummer had one of the sharper throws of the day, hitting veteran David Moore for a deep touchdown.

That's two days in a row for that connection.

— Stop us if you've heard this before. Derrick Brown is good at football. The big defensive tackle batted down a Young pass in a live period Sunday, something he's shown a knack for in his career. Brown's not the kind of player who is built to stand out in most of the unpadded practices, but when you see him in a setting like Sunday, you're reminded how good he is (and how much of a test he is for a new-look offensive line.

— Chandler Zavala got another day of work with the ones, with Damien Lewis out for personal reasons. New lineman Jack Anderson was there for his first practice since he was signed, and he took reps at both center and guard.