Panthers OC Thomas Brown: Bryce Young was who I thought he was gonna be

Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown may have just Dennis Green’d his quarterback—but in a good way.

Right after wrapping up the opening session of rookie minicamp on Friday, team reporter Kristen Balboni caught up with the first-year play caller.  Balboni, obviously, couldn’t let Brown leave without asking about Bryce Young—who *read in a distressed Dennis Green voice* was who he thought he’d be.

“Obviously, it’s gonna be a long road to him being his best,” he said of the No. 1 overall pick. “But I would say, from a Day 1 standpoint—the operation, the execution—they may have had one hiccup here or there from a call standpoint. But he was who I thought he was gonna be. He was being efficient, a great communicator, the knowledge of the game, the football IQ and how he operated in the huddle was awesome.”

Day 1 in the books for this rookie class pic.twitter.com/hCgTHVpU2L

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) May 12, 2023

Coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, those traits are precisely what Brown said he was looking for in a quarterback way back in February—even before the Panthers traded for the draft’s top selection. And now, less than three months later, he has his point guard.