Insider shares why Bryce Young isn’t Panthers starting QB yet

There’s more information about why new Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich isn’t naming first overall draft pick Bryce Young his starting quarterback this spring.

“I’m told the staff is trying to make sure the operation as a whole, in Reich’s first year, is running at an optimal level,” Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer wrote for a piece published Tuesday. “Most of the Panthers veterans have been in-house for five weeks already, as the coaches try to keep pushing that level higher, with two weeks of on-field work under their belts as part of that. The rookies, including Young, are behind that pace.”

While Panthers insiders have insisted Young will be the Week 1 starter over free-agency signing Andy Dalton, Reich recently confirmed that Dalton will continue working with the first-team offense coming off rookie minicamp sessions. Carolina offensive coordinator Thomas Brown noted on Tuesday that the coaching staff was starting all rookies with a basic “introduction of our offense” ahead of Memorial Day.

“Reich, for obvious reasons, doesn’t want to slow the pace to accommodate any rookie he thinks has to progress,” Breer continued. “Which is to say now it’ll be up to Young to catch up to older teammates. When he does, the coaches will start transitioning and getting him more work with the guys he’ll be playing with in the fall (presuming he does, sooner or later, he will become the starter).”

Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer told Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio earlier this month there was no set “timeline” for when Young will play and that coaches such as Reich and Brown will “decide when it’s right.”

Preseason games are still multiple months away, but Breer’s latest update suggests Reich and company haven’t completely slammed the door shut on Dalton starting over Young through at least Carolina’s three September games.