New Panthers QB Bryce Young ‘checked every box’ for Frank Reich, Scott Fitterer

A few weeks after the Carolina Panthers hired head coach Frank Reich, the former NFL quarterback-turned-play-caller sat in a meeting led by general manager Scott Fitterer. It was there that Fitterer discussed the consensus top four quarterbacks heading into the 2023 draft.

As the meeting was wrapping up, Fitterer had a question for the room full of scouts who had spent the past year studying the quarterback prospects: Who would they choose if the Panthers traded up from No. 9 to a higher selection in the draft? According to Reich, the room was unanimous.

They wanted Alabama quarterback Bryce Young.

On Thursday, those scouts got their wish, as Carolina used its first overall pick — acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Chicago Bears in March — on Young, a 5-foot-10, 204-pound Heisman Trophy winner.

While Reich appreciated what he heard in the meeting from Fitterer and the scouting department, he was a bit more patient with the process. Still, the tape stood out to him immediately.

“We’re coaches, we’re scouts — we watch the tape,” Reich said following Thursday’s first overall selection. “And when you watch the tape, Bryce Young is the best player.”

The Panthers might not have had the opportunity to select Young if the Houston Texans didn’t back out of a three-way trade with Carolina and Chicago right before the final deal was made. Two days before Chicago and Carolina swapped picks, Houston pulled out of trading up to No. 1, which would have led to the Panthers acquiring the No. 2 spot from Chicago in a less-substantial deal.

The Panthers were intrigued by Young, and they didn’t want to miss out on him with the Las Vegas Raiders and other teams interested in the Bears’ top pick.

Carolina owner David Tepper said the franchise’s brain trust spoke on the day the trade was finalized and reached an agreement in the room in roughly 15 to 20 minutes. Fitterer called up Bears GM Ryan Poles and pushed the Panthers past the finish line on a monumental deal that would ultimately land Young.

“We thought this guy had the highest probability of winning Super Bowls,” Tepper said. “And I think for myself, and I don’t want to speak for Frank, and I think he feels the same way — listen, you want to win Super Bowls.”

Once the Panthers gained the first overall pick, Carolina’s leadership group started an extensive pro day tour that led helped them find even more conviction on Young. Tepper, Fitterer, Reich, assistant GM Dan Morgan, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and several others met with Young, Kentucky’s Will Levis, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Florida’s Anthony Richardson during the process.

Ultimately, Young stood out from the pack.

“Throughout the process, he checked every box that we had,” Fitterer said. “We tested him, we talked with him, we had dinner with him, and just every time we met with him, we felt more and more convicted. And we liked all of the guys — but Bryce was a guy we really felt strongly about.”

Earlier this week, Fitterer and Reich made the final decision on Young in a matter of seconds during an impromptu meeting that the head coach compared to a wedding proposal.

“It was pretty obvious — we already knew — but I went in and just asked him,” Fitterer said. “It was really a five-second conversation.”

While the narrative on Reich was that he only preferred bigger quarterbacks, the Panthers shattered that typecasting rumor with the selection of a size outlier. Reich admitted it took a bit longer for him to finalize his choice of Young.

“It wasn’t like I took more convincing. I just am always committed to the process,” Reich said. “Listen, Scott couldn’t have handled this any better. Like he said, it was very clear.”

Young stood out to Reich because of the completeness of his game. While Young is short in stature compared with his peers, Reich felt he wasn’t limited in his ability as a passer.

“There wasn’t one play — I mean, that just was it,” Reich said. “There was a lot of highlight plays — there were so many — he had such a prolific career, and he makes all the plays, every kind of play you want to see a quarterback make. Situationally, in the big moments — he makes the little throws, the big moments, the big throws — so they’re all over the tape.”

Reich also liked that Young had a history of winning. From Pop Warner to high school to college, Young has had quite the amateur career, which is something Fitterer pointed out in that scouting meeting a few months back.

“It mattered a lot,” Reich said. “And that something Scott really was clear on from the start — that this guy’s a winner. And he’s been the best player on the best team against the best competition, from the time he was 8 years old, literally.”

Tepper, who has established a collaborative environment throughout the offseason, praised Reich and Fitterer for their handling of the process. Tepper said Fitterer and his scouting staff did the heavy lifting on the pick of Young, and Reich and Tepper contributed to the decision.

“Listen, Scott and the scouts, that’s 90 percent of the work,” Tepper said. “Frank is another seven or eight percent or nine percent of the work. And I add that last one percent. ... This is truly a process — I can’t emphasize that enough. We’re true to this process this time. Not all the time in past years (laughs), but this is a process. Process in the coach, process in getting this quarterback — and not leaving a stone unturned.”

And while the Panthers are elated to have Young as the future face of their franchise, Reich wants to commit to a steady process with the quarterback as well. The organization won’t rush Young onto the field, just like the squad didn’t rush to finalize its top pick on draft weekend.

With veteran Andy Dalton and a quarterback-friendly ecosystem already in place around Young, Reich and the Panthers will look to ease the former Crimson Tide player into the action before he can take off as the team’s signal-caller.

“Right now, he’ll come in and ... he’ll have to earn it,” Reich said. “Obviously, that’s the way it should be. And we’ll know when the right time is. That’ll be a decision that Scott and I, and the coaching staff, will continue to look at. But listen, he’s got enough going on right now. I just want him to come in and learn the offense and not have to worry about stepping into the limelight.”