USA TODAY Sports Weekly

Reich grades Young at OTAs

- Tyler Dragon USA TODAY

Bryce Young’s first OTA session is off to a rousing start.

Carolina Panthers coach Frank Reich was compliment­ary of the 2023 No. 1 overall pick’s performanc­e at the start of OTA practices.

“It was 10 out of 10,” Reich said of Young. “Just complete command, control, poise. You could tell the way he was seeing it, the way he was working through progressio­ns, accuracy in the throw, ball placement of the throw, it was all very good.”

The Panthers currently have Young, second-year pro Matt Corral and veteran Andy Dalton as their three top quarterbac­ks. Reich pointed out that Dalton is helping Young with his transition to the NFL game.

“It’s really good for Bryce to kind of see Andy handle things the way he’s handled things,” Reich said. “And, obviously,

Bryce has picked it up extremely fast. But it feels like we’ve got a good plan and we’re doing the right thing.”

The Panthers acquired the No. 1 selection in the 2023 draft in a March trade with the Chicago Bears. Carolina then used the top draft choice to draft the Alabama quarterbac­k.

It remains to be seen whether Young can build a case to start the opener Sept. 10 against the Atlanta Falcons.

“I think I’ve been putting all my effort and focus on trying to learn things in the playbook and try to do as much to learn the offense, and then on the practice field go and execute that,” Young said to reporters May 22. “Every day there’s still a lot more I want to get better at and improve on. I don’t think it’s surprising that it’s work. But I have a great group of people around me that push me to be the best version of myself. I feel like progress is being made and there’s a lot more progress to go.”

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