Two weeks into the season, 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young came off two of his worst games that saw him get benched indefinitely.
This benching occurred after a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, where he threw for a lackluster 84 yards and a pick.
Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, fellow 2023 first-round pick Anthony Richardson was benched after a Week 8 matchup against their division rival, the Houston Texans. Richardson decided to bench himself late in this game as he said: “he was tired“.
These two second-year players seemed unprepared for the NFL. With rough starts, both teams turned to veteran quarterbacks Andy Dalton and Joe Flacco, respectively, and felt they gave them the best chance to win.
These benching decisions seemed to be the nail in the coffin for both quarterbacks as franchise players, yet both quarterbacks seemed to make their way back to the starting job.
Bryce Young
Bryce Young‘s future seemed bleak. Many of the traits that made him the first overall pick weren’t on display, and he seemed weak in those departments.
He was seen as a quarterback who was good at extended plays, an accurate thrower and thrived against pressures and blitzes. After two games, he suffered two blowout losses where he completed 55% of his passes, 245 passing yards, three interceptions, and just one total touchdown.
It was made worse because the offense immediately looked significantly better in the following two games that Andy Dalton started, picking up a win against the Las Vegas Raiders and staying competitive with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Panthers’ next three games seemed more of the norm as the Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, and Washington Commanders blew them out.
Despite this, it still seemed that the Panthers were not willing to go back to Young. He was then given his chance to start through less-than-ideal circumstances after Dalton suffered a sprained thumb after he was involved in a car accident. Young took the opportunity and had a decent game against the Denver Broncos, who possess a top-ten defense.
Following the solid performance against the Broncos, Young was given the start in back-to-back games where he led game-winning drives against the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants.
Despite these positive steps by Young, there was still uncertainty about whether this was a step in the right direction or a case of squeaking by very bad teams.
Following a bye week, Young played the most impressive game of his pro career, completing 60% of his passes for 263 yards and a touchdown against the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and leading a game-tying drive, which unfortunately wasn’t enough to win.
This game was a coming-of-age moment for Young, and they finally convinced Head Coach Dave Canales to name him the full-time starter after weeks of hesitating.
Excellent performances against the Buccaneers, Eagles, Cardinals, and Falcons established Bryce as the starting quarterback for now and in the future. This allowed the Panthers to consider other positions heading into the offseason.
RISING SUPERSTAR: Each of #Panthers quarterback Bryce Young’s touchdown passes this season.
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 8, 2025
Young threw seven touchdown passes and had a passer rating of 100+ in each of his last three games.
BRYCE YOUNG WILL BE AN MVP CANDIDATE IN 2025… 👀
pic.twitter.com/jcCGuJDPCI
Anthony Richardson
Anthony Richardson was drafted fourth overall by the Indianapolis Colts and was seen as a major project quarterback.
He started a measly 12 games in college, finished with a 6-6 record, and lost in his lone bowl game appearance. Despite being labeled a project, Richardson impressed at the start of his rookie season, making highlight plays with his running ability and his cannon of an arm. The downside was that he missed a game early on with a concussion, and after two more games, he needed season-ending shoulder surgery, concluding his rookie season after five weeks.
Richardson opened up the season with a very up-and-down first game against the Houston Texans, where he led his team in rushing and completed a 60-yard touchdown throw to Alec Pierce and a 54-yard touchdown throw to Ashton Dullin. Those were also two of his pedestrian nine completions for the game and the Texans ended up winning.
A three-interception game against the Green Bay Packers followed this. Another up-and-down game against the Chicago Bears was followed by another game where Richardson left injured, this time against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He missed the following two games with a hip injury. He returned in Week 7 against the Miami Dolphins, where his completion percentage was again under 50%, and the Colts won 16-10 thanks to a touchdown from a short field after a fumble from Raheem Mostert. This was followed by a rematch with the Texans, where he completed an abysmal 31.3% of his passes, and as stated before, he exited the game at one point because he said “he was tired.” This game led to the Colts deciding to bench Richardson ahead of their Sunday night match-up against the Minnesota Vikings.
After two Flacco starts, the Colts announced that Richardson was ready to start again, stating that he wasn’t benched due to play but more because of “preparation.” They said that he was now ready and had gotten the message. Richardson had an excellent game against the New York Jets, being accurate, throwing for a touchdown, and running for two more in a promising display. A game against the Detroit Lions was again a struggle with inaccuracy issues but flashes on the ground.
The next game against the New England Patriots was more similar, with flashes but with inaccuracy issues. It was followed by an abysmal performance against the Broncos where he had a career-low passer rating of 36.3, and the Broncos forced five turnovers against the Colts offense. A Jonathan Taylor explosion against the Tennessee Titans required little of Richardson, and he ended up having a back injury that kept him out of the last two games of the season. Richardson ended the season with the lowest completion percentage in the NFL at 47.7% and once again finished his season banged up.
Richardson is the presumed starter for next season. Still, there are plenty of talks of bringing in competition, and with Head Coach Shane Steichen and General Manager Chris Ballard presumably on the hot seat, it seems like Richardson’s future is up in the air.
Is this week 1 throw by Anthony Richardson still the best of the 2024 season? pic.twitter.com/cLyqnk3p1f
— Jebediah (@itsJebediah) December 31, 2024
The Future
The future of these quarterbacks was in similar positions in the middle of this season.
Benching a young quarterback usually signals that the franchise has given up and is looking forward to the next year. Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson both managed to make their way back to the lineup to buck the usual trend. Still, their seasons took completely different paths. Young made the most of his benching and returned to playing better football, showing his elite traits and giving Panthers’ fans hope for the future.
Richardson came back with more of the same issues that he had shown in his career, and even with his immense talent, his future seems more in jeopardy as the regime that believed in him also seems to be in jeopardy.
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