Panthers OTAs: Young splits first-team reps with Dalton, Thielen makes highlight play

Bryce Young had to wait for his turn Monday during the first workout of Panthers organized team activities. But that wait didn’t last long during team drills, and once the rookie quarterback got into the huddle, he led the first-team offense for long stretches on the practice field outside of Bank of America Stadium.

Veteran Andy Dalton took the first three reps in 11-on-11 drills, but Young quickly inserted himself in the lineup after the initial trio of tosses. From there, the top two quarterbacks rotated with the first-team offense throughout the morning.

While second-year quarterback Matt Corral sprinkled into the lineup during the first phase of 11-on-11 work, he and the rest of third-string offense eventually moved to an adjacent field to split up reps between the starters and the deep depth chart.

Working on two separate fields helped the Panthers parse out their quarterback reps evenly during team drills. Along with occasional handoffs, Young and Dalton threw the ball 12 times each, while Corral — working almost exclusively with the third-team offense — tossed the ball 13 times.

The Observer monitored both fields as the quarterbacks took turns running the offense in what was an efficient first workout in OTAs.

Young completed his first five passes. While he mostly tossed short throws to the flat, Young did let the ball rip to wideout CJ Saunders during his first phase of 11-on-11 work. His first incompletion of the day came on a dart to wideout Terrace Marshall, as the ball ricocheted off the playmaker’s shoulder pad.

Young quickly bounced back with three consecutive completions to wideout Shi Smith, tight end Ian Thomas and rookie receiver Jonathan Mingo.

After watching Dalton handle the huddle for a stretch, Young then returned to the field with an incompletion to wideout Laviska Shenault. He then hit veteran wideout Adam Thielen on a deep crossing route for his longest completion of the session.

Young finished 9 of 12 on the day without an interception.

“It was a lot of fun, just being able to compete — us flying around a little bit,” Young said. “This being the first time that we were against the defense, and being able to go and play fast, and go at a full-speed tempo, it was great. Obviously, last week it was going against the coaches and walking through stuff, but being able to take the meeting room onto the practice field was a lot of fun. A lot of competition, a lot of us getting after it, so it was a fun day.”

Dalton, who is in his 13th NFL offseason program, took what the Panthers defense gave him for the most part.

However, during his second stretch with the first-team offense, Dalton threw the first incompletion of the 11-on-11 drills, overthrowing Thielen on a crossing route. Then, after a short completion to Thomas, Dalton threw the day’s only interception, as safety Vonn Bell jumped a route on a mid-range throw from the quarterback.

Dalton rebounded later in the session by completing his final six passes of the workout.

“I know the situation that we’re in here — I knew coming in that we were going to have the first pick and we were going to take a quarterback,” Dalton said. “For me, that doesn’t change my mindset of how I’m going about every single day. I know the reality (is) that this thing is going to be Bryce’s at some point. And right now, for me, it’s to go be me out there, and play like I can play, and practice how I expect to practice — and do things like that. And with part of that, it’s about helping Bryce learn the NFL game and the mechanics of getting in and out of the huddle and all of the little things that you need to learn going into it.”

Following the workout, head coach Frank Reich said the Panthers cut fourth-string quarterback Jacob Eason on Thursday to open up more reps for Corral. The second-year quarterback did a nice job with the playing time, as he completed 10 of 13 passes during the workout.

Corral made a pair of impressive mid-range throws to tight end Stephen Sullivan and protected the ball well. Last year’s third-round pick should continue to get a heavy workload throughout OTAs, as the Panthers’ brass isn’t like to add another quarterback until training camp.

“Reps is the goal, especially in the position that I’m in,” Corral said. “It was great just to get out there and consistently fill out the reps — get some experience in those specific plays.”

News and Notes

▪ PLAY OF THE DAY: Dalton and Thielen teamed up for the play of the day in what was a workout-capping highlight. Dalton led Thielen on a crossing route down the field, and with the ball slightly ahead of him, the wide receiver extended an arm to bring in a one-handed completion on the run. The practice horn sounded immediately after the play was blown day dead.

▪ Rover defender Jeremy Chinn made an impressive pass breakup on a throw by Young during 11-on-11 work. Young targeted Thielen with two defenders split outside of his path. While it looked like Thielen was going to break away from the pack with the ball leading him to the sideline, Chinn caught up in coverage underneath and batted the ball away from the receiver. Chinn was praised by Reich following the workout, and the head coach said the fourth-year defender could have a bigger role this season than initially intended by the staff.

▪ Tight end Hayden Hurst and cornerback C.J. Henderson were absent from the voluntary workout. Hurst is recovering from offseason sports hernia surgery, according to Reich. Henderson was excused from the workout because of a personal matter.

Cornerback Donte Jackson (Achilles), pass rusher Brian Burns (ankle), right guard Austin Corbett (ACL) and rookie lineman BJ Wilson (Achilles) were spectators on Monday. Jackson and Burns were on the field from the start of the workout, while Corbett and Wilson exited the practice bubble midway through the session.

▪ Wideout DJ Chark brought his helmet to the workout on Monday. That was a new sight from the previous workouts with the media in attendance. While Chark didn’t take part in team drills, his presence in individual work is a good sign as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery.

▪ Undrafted rookie cornerback Mark Milton had a pass breakup on a throw from Corral in 11-on-11 work.

▪ The Panthers will have two more workouts this week, but the media will not be present. The team, like the rest of the league, will have 10 OTA workouts spread over three weeks. Media will be able to attend two more sessions.