Panthers’ Josh McCown dishes on Bryce Young’s ‘artistry’ and development within offense

Panthers quarterbacks coach Josh McCown hasn’t been given a blank canvas with first overall pick Bryce Young. Although Young is a rookie quarterback, his exploits in the SEC during his college career at Alabama have conditioned him for the NFL.

Young — who won the Heisman Trophy following the 2021 college season — made a name for himself in the toughest environment in college football by improvising when his team needed to make a play. And that’s why McCown, who is in charge of developing Young, doesn’t want to hinder the rookie’s artistic expression on the field.

Young was an excellent off-scheduled playmaker at the college level. And while the Panthers want to make sure he’s smart with the football, they don’t want to hold back their top playmaker when he is capable of making moves that extend beyond the playbook.

“It’s a challenge, and we embrace that challenge,” McCown said Thursday. “With guys that can play that way — that can play off-schedule — there’s some artistry involved, and we understand that’s unique in their gifting, and you don’t want to take that away from them. Like with any great artist, there’s a delicate balance with letting their greatness flow, but keeping it at a level that’s not a detriment to the team, and that’s when it’s really special. And that’s what makes him really good, is that he’s — at the college level, so far — shown he has a great barometer of when and when not to do (off-scheduled plays). And I think that’s what special players do, and certainly part of why we drafted him.”

Throughout the draft process, pundits pocked holes in all of the major quarterback prospects’ skill sets. The most common critique for Young centered around his 5-foot-10, 204-pound frame.

Young was frequently called an outlier for his diminutive size relative to the rest of the NFL players at his position. But the Panthers didn’t have an issue with Young’s small stature because his efficiency and productivity on film.

“When you turn on the tape, you don’t feel that,” McCown said, regarding Young’s size. “You never felt it. You look at all the studies and the balls being thrown over the middle, especially — that’s where you get into some issues (typically) — and his (completion) percentages are as high or higher than others in taller quarterbacks when we make several different comparisons with different players. So, at the end of the day, that really never entered into the evaluation as a critical factor, because it didn’t show up on the tape.”

The Panthers were impressed by Young’s processing ability during the path to the draft.

That quick-thinking nature — along with Young’s dogged study habits — have been put on display early in his Panthers tenure. McCown, who played nearly two decades in the NFL, says Young’s ability to process information has put him ahead of the rookie learning curve in some respects.

“Every time we step into a meeting with him, it’s clear that he’s taken the material — whatever was presented to him the day before — he’s taken that and spent time with it at home, and he’s digested it and he comes with questions — and that’s what a pro does,” McCown said. “He comes with questions — he’s got great questions, very insightful — a lot of times well beyond just what a rookie would ask, so that’s encouraging. And that expedites the process for us, meeting-wise, because we can get to some second-, third- and fourth-level-type answers, which are encouraging, but at the same, we’ve got to grow him just like everybody else.”

The Panthers have been quick to note that they won’t rush Young onto the field as a rookie.

Veteran Andy Dalton has led the Carolina offense since before Young was even drafted. Dalton will continue to be the leader under center until Young is ready, and McCown wouldn’t have it any other way, even as the rookie impresses in meeting rooms and on the practice field.

“The ability to process at a high rate allows for some of those things to be expedited, but you don’t want to take that for granted,” McCown said. “And you can’t in this league, because this league has a history of humbling everyone at some point. And so, as well as he played in the SEC and at Alabama, we do want to bring him along the right way.”