Bryce Young disappears behind Panthers’ offensive line at first practice

Carolina Panthers’ first-round pick Bryce Young looked even smaller during his first practice.

It may not have been in pads, but Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young looked well under 6-feet during his first practice with the team.

Height was always going to be a sticking point in Young’s evaluation coming out of Alabama. While I don’t think it will be a massive issue for him, this is contingent on him maintaining his athleticism and being able to make plays outside of the pocket. Of course, he will have to throw darts standing behind an offensive line he has no hope seeing over. If Drew Brees did it, then why couldn’t Young?

If not for the red practice jersey, you probably could not see Young in this video that has gone viral.

Young’s size will not matter, as long as he is healthy and the game eventually slows down for him.

Carolina Panthers offensive line towers over Bryce Young during his first practice

Even though new Panthers head coach Frank Reich didn’t do short quarterbacks until very recently, taking Young No. 1 overall was the correct decision to make in the 2023 NFL Draft. Carolina traded up from No. 9 in a deal with the Chicago Bears that I still don’t really understand from Chicago’s perspective. Young had to be the first player taken because he could be Joe Burrow.

This has everything to do with Young and Burrow possessing that rare quarterbacking magic most signal-callers can only ever dream about having. If Young hits, then Carolina could be going on a dynastic run in the wild west that is the NFC South in a post-Tom Brady world. Unfortunately, it has kind of been a mixed bag of late when it comes to Alabama quarterbacks playing in the NFL…

Mac Jones feels like he is one more bad season away from getting permanently benched in New England. Tua Tagovailoa is one more concussion away from having to hang up the spikes and call it a career. While Jalen Hurts is flourishing in Philadelphia, keep in mind that he had to transfer over to Oklahoma after losing the Alabama starting quarterback job to Tagovailoa after Second and 26.

Overall, Panthers fans should be ecstatic over having Young as the new face of their franchise. Outside of being below 6-feet and not being able to baseball slide, he is everything you could have ever hoped for a franchise quarterback prospect coming out. He has great character and is a leader of men. However, he will have to take care of himself to avoid being destroyed by 300-pound men.

Young may not be able to get any taller, but he can totally put on some pounds in the weight room.