Pat Leonard: Benching of Bryce Young sends harsh reminder to QBs around the league

NEW YORK — Bryce Young’s benching Monday in Carolina was a thunderbolt across the NFL’s landscape, a reminder that no one’s job in this league is safe, not even recent No. 1 overall quarterback picks.

It is the latest example of Panthers owner David Tepper still struggling to figure out this football thing and fit in.

Young’s benching for veteran backup Andy Dalton also reinforces that when a GM gets fired and a starting quarterback is inherited by new leadership — in this case GM Dan Morgan — it usually does not take long for that QB to be shipped out or replaced.

The Giants’ situation with Daniel Jones, of course, is therefore an outlier.

Jones’ days were numbered when Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll took over in 2022 and won a playoff game in their first season (9-7-1). When Schoen couldn’t get a multi-year contract done with Saquon Barkley, though, he pivoted to a one-year franchise tag for the running back and signed Jones to a four-year, $140 million extension.

Schoen and the Giants did build an out for themselves after two seasons of $82 million guaranteed into Jones’ contract entering Year 3. But Jones now has become their quarterback, not just one they inherited, as the operation has steadily disintegrated.

They scouted the rookie quarterbacks in this year’s NFL draft aggressively but couldn’t trade up from No. 6 to No. 3 overall for Drake Maye after Washington took Jayden Daniels at No. 2. So they are married to Jones for better or worse.

That was the fascinating part about Sunday’s random and prominent ESPN headline from insider Adam Schefter reminding the country about Jones’ $23 million injury guarantee for 2025 — and noting how quarterbacks with similar kicker clauses have been benched in the past.

Someone is clearly greasing the skids for a move away from Jones if this continues to spiral, something the fans wouldn’t mind at all, based on their Week 1 boos and early exits from MetLife Stadium.

Transitioning away from Jones in New York feels inevitable, though, even if Schoen and Daboll don’t earn the right to draft the next guy. Former Panthers GM Scott Fitterer just traded up to draft Young in 2023 out of Alabama with the top overall pick.

Carolina has had a top-10 pick in five straight drafts from 2020, including the No. 1 overall selection the last two years. But Fitterer not only traded this year’s No. 1 pick away to move up to the top choice in 2023; he also picked the wrong player.

The Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud, the No. 2 pick in that draft, looks like a 10-year veteran in the pocket. There is no undoing that mistake.

They decided their best option instead — even though it is painful and reflects a lack of organizational stability — was to do something close to what the Arizona Cardinals in 2018-19: rip the Band-Aid off immediately.

Former Cardinals GM Steve Keim famously took UCLA’s Josh Rosen No. 10 overall in 2018 and then was allowed to stay on and take Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray No. 1 overall the following year.

Sometimes top pick quarterbacks just need a change of scenery to flourish, like former top pick Baker Mayfield now in Tampa Bay. Others have excelled early but also benefitted from a new direction like Jared Goff, reaching the Super Bowl with the Rams and now at home with the Lions.

They’re all supremely talented, so sometimes it’s more about having a better coach or supporting cast that maximizes a player’s talent.

Look at former Jets No. 3 overall pick Sam Darnold’s recent play under Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota as Exhibit A.

As it is, Young, 23, became the first quarterback selected No. 1 in the common draft era (since 1967) to be benched for non-injury reasons in his second season on Monday. He has a 2-16 record as a starter and a league-low 8.9 quarterback rating this season, losing Carolina’s first two games by a combined score of 73-13.

It doesn’t reflect well on the Panthers’ organization that Young was “blindsided” by the news of his benching, as ESPN reported, after what sounded like a vote of confidence from first-year head coach Dave Canales on Sunday.

Still, Tepper clearly had seen enough, if not Carolina’s new brass, too, and they judged it was time — even though it’s so early in Young’s career.

Meanwhile, this affects the Giants in a few ways:

First, this means Dalton likely will be the Panthers’ quarterback on Nov. 10 in Munich, Germany. That will make Carolina a better team in a matchup that could determine the No. 1 overall draft choice in the 2025 NFL draft.

Second, this potentially puts Young on the trade market. Schoen and Morgan are good friends. They just swung the Brian Burns trade this spring. However, Schoen was a Stroud guy two years ago. Both he and the Giants believe in size at the quarterback position, and Young is not only short but wiry, as well.

Third, and most pressingly, Young’s benching was a September reminder that it is always the right time for an earth-shaking quarterback change if that team’s owner and leadership deem it so. And while Jones bounced back and played well at Washington in Week 3, he obviously might not end up being far behind Young if the Giants’ losing continues and all hope dissipates in New York.