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JARRETT BELL
Carolina Panthers

Top pick, top pressure. Bryce Young's status as No. 1 selection comes with the loftiest of expectations

Jarrett Bell
USA TODAY

CHARLOTTE — Minutes after the Carolina Panthers ended the suspense Thursday night and christened the NFL draft by selecting Bryce Young with the No. 1 pick overall, David Tepper minced no words in declaring the expectation.

Addressing the few thousand fans who packed the field at Bank of America Stadium for a draft party, the Panthers' progressive owner was energized … and direct.

"What I want to say? Super Bowls," Tepper pronounced.

Welcome to the NFL, kid.

It’s quite the honor to be the first pick in any draft. Talent, sizzle and potential are some of the ingredients that have led to this moment for the former Alabama quarterback. Never mind his size. Young, 5-10 ⅛, 204 pounds, won a Heisman Trophy and led the Crimson Tide to a national title game while excelling against the best competition in the SEC.

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He’s surely earned this spot. Attached to the status, for better or for worse, is the pressure to live up to the hype – fair or not.

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Bryce Young walks on stage after being drafted first overall by the Panthers during the 2023 NFL draft at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri on April 27, 2023.

The Panthers zeroed in on Young, 21, over two other quarterbacks, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson, early in the process and in early March swung a trade with the Chicago Bears to ensure that they could get him with the top pick overall.

When Tepper informed Young that he’d be the pick with a phone call as the quarterback sat in the green room at the draft in Kansas City, he reminded him of a chat they had during the week of Super Bowl 57 in Phoenix.

"I told you we were going to take a quarterback. I wasn’t kidding," Tepper told Young.

Then the colorful team owner broke the news.

"You want to trade some 'Sweet Home, Alabama' for some 'Sweet (Caroline)?'" Tepper said.

Time will tell whether the Panthers are good on their hunch. The franchise has struggled and missed the playoffs in each of the past five years. If they miss on this quarterback pick, it could set the franchise back for years.

"Which one of those guys can take us there?" Tepper said, elaborating on his Super Bowl vision when he joined coach Frank Reich and GM Scott Fitterer at a news conference. "What’s the probability? Because there’s no sure thing. We thought this guy has the highest probability of winning Super Bowls."

Tepper, a self-made billionaire who has made a fortune analyzing companies as a hedge fund manager and bought the Panthers in 2018, certainly knows numbers. It was notable that he spoke in the plural sense when addressing the Super Bowl vision.

None of this seems to faze Young as he embarks on his new mission. It figures. To excel to the point of being No. 1 overall, he’s surely passed some pressure-packed tests.

Then again, this will be an entirely different type of pressure of the highest order.

"Whenever there’s a pressure situation, I look at that as an opportunity," Young told reporters during a Zoom conference. "You know, it’s fun to the be in those situations."

Translation: Yeah, let’s try to win big.

"That’s what we all dream of and the moments that we’re all excited to be a part of," he added after Tepper’s comments were relayed to him. "Whatever the expectation may be, I want to take things day by day."

This, too, is the beauty of being young, gifted and optimistic. Or in Tepper’s case, a bit older, richer and optimistic.

Although Reich indicated that Young will likely enter training camp as No. 2 on the depth chart (behind recently acquired veteran Andy Dalton), Tepper doubled down on the pressure as he described how he sees the unit flowing with the electric quarterback.

Tepper echoed the TV draft analysts in comparing Young to a basketball point guard. Then he took it a step further in thinking of the ripple effect.

"The way he throws the ball," Tepper said. "The way he’s a point guard. How you can use the different players on the field. How you might not have as many 'elite' receivers, because he’s a point guard. So, he distributes the ball to people with routes. You can save some money there. We can save money other places and put that money on the defensive side."

It’s one thing to be a precision thrower, as Tepper alluded to Young’s skills. But it still helps for precision throwers to be supported by ‘elite’ receivers (see: Joe Montana to Jerry Rice).

Reich surely knows what his boss is thinking. Yet he and Fitterer will also tell you in a heartbeat that any winning quarterback needs a supporting cast.

Then again, the Panthers think Young is the perfect one to build their hopes around.

"The guy’s a winner," Reich said. "He’s been the best player on the best team, against the best competition, from the time he was 8 years old, literally."

Yet suddenly, there’s no mistaking that he will be measured by a much higher standard.

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