David NewtonESPN Staff Writer September 28, 2023, 2:24 PM ET3 minutes read
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young isn’t worried that his sprained right ankle will limit him in his expected return for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.
“Not really,” Young said Thursday in his first comments to reporters since his injury in Week 2. “I feel great.”
Young, who didn’t play in last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, looked so good in practice on Wednesday that coach Frank Reich said the No. 1 overall draft pick, barring a setback, is trending toward the will start on Sunday.
Young returned to full training on Thursday.
Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown called it the best practice of the year for Young.
“Not just the execution,” Brown said. “He was really good at reading the offense and being a quick processor.” But the energy, the enthusiasm, getting into a group, attacking plays with conviction, coaching those guys from a receiver standpoint… just to be a maestro when it comes to offense.”
Young is so relaxed and calm in practice that it sometimes seems like he lacks energy. He made sure that wasn’t the case on Wednesday.
“We talked about increasing our energy and our pace,” Young said. “I definitely took that to heart.”
Seeing the energy Andy Dalton brought to the offense against Seattle also gave Young a different perspective.
“He’s done a great job of taking responsibility for what we do,” Dalton said. “That’s what you have to have in this position.” “It was nice to see him step in there yesterday and have the leadership, the energy and what it takes to lead the group.”
Dalton said Young had a lot to overcome as a rookie, including being on an 0-3 team for probably the first time in his football career.
“I was in the same boat,” Dalton said. “Before I came to the NFL, I never lost two games in a row in any sport or part of my life.” I would assume it was probably the same with Bryce, especially coming from a program like Alabama where it’s kind of that End of the world means when you lose a game.”
Young, who was 0-2 as a starter, couldn’t remember if he had ever made such a start or lost consecutive games as a player at any level. He never did that at Alabama, where he went 23-4 as a starter with two losses in each of 2021 and 2022.
“You have to process it and understand it for what it is,” Young said. “Of course it’s not the beginning we wanted, but nothing will change that.” … It’s impossible to go into that. There’s no ‘What about this?’ What about this?’ And in the end it won’t do anything.”
Two of the NFL’s four 0-3 teams will face off on Sunday. The others are the Broncos and Bears, who also face each other.
“We have to earn the right to win the game,” Young said. “…We have to turn the tide. We must learn from what happened. We have to figure out how to get better and grow.”
For Young, that starts with returning to the starting lineup. But he was quick to say his quick return had nothing to do with those who questioned his consistency during the draft process.
“It doesn’t motivate me at all,” Young said. “Good or bad, what people will say is beyond my control.” People will have opinions. “The beauty of sport is that we can have conversations and people are passionate and care and express that.”