gotchanewsdaily.com 
Earlier this week it was confirmed that the Carolina Panthers are benching 2023 first overall pick, Bryce Young. This comes only 18 starts into Young’s very young NFL career. Immediately rumors began swirling that Young could be traded out of Carolina. This despite Panthers Head Coach, Dave Canales stating that “Bryce is our quarterback,” and that a trade is “not something that we’re considering.” Meanwhile, a source close to Young said that Bryce is “open to anything” regarding his future in Carolina or elsewhere. Would Carolina really trade their former first overall pick, just 18 games into his career? This especially after giving up a massive haul to the Chicago Bears to take him. This seems unlikely, but this is the David Tepper-led Carolina Panthers after all.
Of the rumors swirling around about possible trade destinations for Young, one included an eye-opening destination, Seattle. Dan Graziano of ESPN recently said the Miami Dolphins were a top potential suitor, but added, “Don’t sleep on the Jets, Rams and Seahawks if Young were available.” Miami would make sense if Tua Tagovailoa is seriously considering retiring (even though reports are showing that Tagovailoa wants to keep playing). The Jets and Rams would both make sense for similar reasons. Both teams have aging quarterbacks who are both considered year-to-year. Young could make sense as a young quarterback who can learn behind both Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford before replacing them near into the future.
What about Seattle? The Seahawks have been floated around as a quarterback destination ever since Russell Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos back in 2022. Names like Baker Mayfield and Justin Fields have been floated to Seattle in the past. However, each time, John Schneider has chosen to stick with Geno Smith, which in retrospect has not looked like a bad decision.
Looking at Smith stats for this season, he is off to a fast start. Smith is completing 73.9% of his passes, has 498 yards, 2 touchdowns, and a 69.8 QBR. Smith’s performance last week against the New England Patriots got him nominated for Air Player of the Week as well. This would indicate that sticking with Smith rather than trading for Young would be the better move.
The counter argument to this is that it is only two games, and that Smith is getting up there in age (Smith turns 34 in October.) However, Smith has also performed well in his last two years starting, putting together back to back Pro Bowl performance in 2022 and 2023. Additionally, though Smith is turning 34 in a few weeks, most of his career was spent as a backup, so he has taken less of a beating compared to other quarterbacks in their mid-30’s.
The other elephant in the room when discussing a Young trade, is Sam Howell. John Schneider just traded for a young, intriguing quarterback project in Howell this past spring. Howell has shown potential to be a starting quarterback already in this league, and still has two years on his rookie contract. For Seattle, trading for Young could feel redundant to the move for Howell earlier this Spring.
The counter argument is that Young is far more intriguing as the former number one overall pick compared to Howell. Additionally, though Young has looked abysmal in his 18 starts, other former Panther quarterbacks have flourished once they left Carolina. Just this season, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield have shown that they can be established starting quarterbacks in this league. Darnold this season has completed 71.3% of his passes, has 476 yards, 4 touchdowns, and a 71.3 QBR. Mayfield this season has completed 73.5% of his passes, has 474 yards, 5 touchdowns, and a 68.6 QBR. These “glow-ups” for Darnold and Mayfield lead one to believe that the quarterback problem in Carolina may not be Young, but rather the Panthers organization itself.
Even considering the last two arguments as arguments to trade for Young, a trade would likely be difficult to come by. First, Carolina would surely be seeking at least a day-two pick for a former first overall pick just last year (2023). Second, bringing in Young would crowd the quarterback room up with Smith, Howell, and Young. Surely Howell or Smith would have to be moved on from, but would John Schneider be looking to move on from his Pro-Bowl quarterback who has the love of the locker room (Smith) or his recently acquired young, cheap quarterback project (Howell).
All these things considered, unless there is a significant downturn in Smith’s play this season, a trade for Young looks very unlikely. This report, or rather “speculation” from Dan Graziano likely can be chopped up to the national media still not giving Smith his flowers, and still viewing him as a long-term backup turned band aid quarterback for Seattle.
