Training camp memories and the stakes for Bryce Young
Training camp is here. A look back at my first in person training camp memory, the season ahead for Bryce Young, some numbers and the inaugural Panthers trading card of the week!
Players report to training camp for season number 32 of Carolina Panthers football on Wednesday.
I’m always reminded of the first time I ever went to training camp at this time of year.
It was 2010. As usual, it was hot and humid down at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. As far as how the Panthers practiced that day, I should’ve trusted my eyes a bit more on how that season would play out.
That day, the Panthers couldn’t do squat offensively. You may remember that team, they went 2-14 with the most dreadful offense in team history.
They finished dead last in yards gained and points scored. They scored 196 points, an average of 12.25 per game, scoring 20 or more only twice.
You may remember that was the season before the lockout and making large investments wasn’t an option at the time for then owner Jerry Richardson.
Matt Moore began the season at quarterback but was hurt in the opener. Jimmy Claussen started the next three games. He suffered a concussion at the end of that third start. Instead of starting sixth round rookie Tony Pike, Head Coach John Fox opted to sign Brian St. Pierre off the couch. Instead of changing diapers that week, St. Pierre started in a loss at home to the Baltimore Ravens.
While that season was one of the worst in franchise history, it did lead to them landing the No. 1 pick and taking quarterback Cam Newton.
While Newton was electrifying from the start, that hasn’t been the case for the Panthers other quarterback they took at No. 1 overall in Bryce Young.
Some of Young’s starts were very 2010 Panthers-esque, especially the first two games of the 2024 season that led to him being benched and had people questioning if he’d ever play for the team again.
This will be year four for Young and there is plenty at stake. The Panthers have ranked 31st, 23rd and 27th in points scored in three seasons.
He eclipsed the 3,000 yard passing marker for the first time last season by 11 yards. The organization is 14-30 in games he has started.
We all know his rookie season was an outright disaster and the blame cannot be pinned squarely on him. His play was awful but the organization was a complete dumpster fire at the time.
He has shown improvement since he returned from being benched in 2024 but is still too inconsistent.
Despite the inconsistencies, his teammates believe in him. Young turns 25 on Saturday. His play this season against one of the toughest schedules in the league likely determines whether or not the Panthers decide to give him a big extension.
There are still plenty of skeptics on his long-term outlook.
If Young turns in performances akin to those 2010 Panthers or his first 18 starts as a pro, then there won’t be much debate on what to do.
But if he can elevate the offense and get the organization back to the playoffs, it should turn more people into believers and make the Panthers contract extension decision a bit easier.
Random Numbers
8: The number of consecutive seasons the Panthers have had a negative point differential. It would be beneficial for the Panthers to snap this streak so the Edward Rooney “nine times” sound clip doesn't have to be put on repeat around here.
Eight consecutive seasons is bad but there are teams with current streaks longer than that! Their division rivals down Interstate 85 in Atlanta have also gone eight consecutive seasons with a negative point differential. The worst current streaks reside in New Jersey. The New York Giants are at nine straight seasons while the New York Jets are at 10.12: The number of offensive line combinations the Panthers had to use in 2025 due to injuries. Most of the shuffling happened at right guard given the torn biceps injury Robert Hunt suffered in week two. Brady Christensen was resigned last week to add additional depth to the room. Christensen was part of the revolving door last season until he tore his Achilles against Buffalo.
The Panthers have invested a ton into the offensive line after Young was sacked 62 times in 2023. Hopefully this position group avoids the injury bug they experienced a season ago.15.7%: The percentage of three-and-out’s from the Panthers offense in 2025 per Aaron Schatz’s FTN Football Almanac for 2026. While the Panthers offense was still below average, their three-and-out percentage was third best in the league in 2026 per FTN.
Panthers Football Card of the Week
2010 Topps Armanti Edwards RC; #315
If I’m going to discuss the 2010 Panthers in my writing, then it’s imperative to make my inaugural Panthers football card of the week from someone on that team.
Armanti Edwards was a college legend, best known for leading Appalachian State’s upset at Michigan in 2007.
The back of his rookie card read:
“The Panthers dealt their second-round pick in 2011 to snag Armanti, a two-time winner of the Walter Payton Award as the top player in FCS. The record-setting college quarterback will be groomed as a wide receiver and return man in the NFL. Edwards’ game-breaking speed and elusiveness in the open field should translate well to his new roles.”
If you’re a Panthers fan, you know that none of those things happened for Edwards.
This transaction is one that still stings many fans. Then general manager Marty Hurney thought so much of Edwards that he traded away the Panthers 2011 second round pick to the New England Patriots to select Edwards at No. 89 overall in the third round of the 2010 draft.
Yes, Hurney traded a future second rounder to take someone near the end of the third round. That second rounder was the No. 33 overall pick in 2011.
It was at the time - and still is - one of the most perplexing moves in Panthers history.
This is nothing against Edwards as he had no control on who drafted him.
They tried to convert Edwards to wide receiver and it just didn’t work. Edwards played in 39 games as a Panther and never scored a touchdown. He caught five passes for 121 yards on 15 total targets.
Most of his career production came on one play at Washington in 2012, an 82 yard reception down the left sideline.
Edwards finished his career in Cleveland and being cut by the Panthers during the 2013 season.
The trade up for Edwards was one of two such moves Hurney made that was ultimately part of ending his first tenure as Panthers general manager. In 2009, he traded away the team’s 2010 first rounder to take Everette Brown in the second round.
It didn’t work, but at least Edwards had one big highlight in a game the Panthers won.