Panthers give Bryce Young support structure the No. 1 pick needs to have success

CHARLOTTE – Bryce Young’s arrival as the new franchise quarterback for the Carolina Panthers had a serious storybook flavor. He was greeted at Bank of America Stadium on Friday by hundreds of fans, serenaded with the familiar “Keep Pounding” chant.

There was a drumline, cheerleaders, an emcee, a red carpet-like walk for autographs and photo ops. He was trailed by a film crew, documenting key moments of Day 1.

If Young lives up to Panthers owner David Tepper’s hype and vision of winning Super Bowls, it might have been a preview of a magical trip to Disneyland.

“Surreal,” is what Young called it.

Yet after the grand entrance, a tour of his new NFL home, the lights-and-cameras news conference and then some, Young also began the process of breaking in on the new job.

He wound up in Frank Reich’s office, a place where he might want to establish a comfort zone.

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“Before he left at the end of the day, (he) kind of came in,” said Reich, the new Panthers coach. “All the work was done. All the fanfare was over. He was just in Panthers gear. Just kind of relaxed and kicked back in my office for a half-hour, just talking a little football. Talking a little bit about the vision for the offense, a vision for this team. … It was pretty cool.”

As the No. 1 pick overall, the expectations attached to the former Alabama quarterback are enormous. Of course, that comes with the territory. Joe Burrow, who led the Bengals to a Super Bowl in his second season, was a No. 1 overall pick.

Then again, over the past dozen years or so, Baker Mayfield, Jameis Winston, Sam Bradford and JaMarcus Russell were top picks, too. With zero Super Bowls.

No, there are no guarantees. Except, maybe, that the long-term fortunes in Carolina of Reich and GM Scott Fitterer likely hinge on whether Young pans out as the chosen one.

One thing is for certain: The Panthers brain trust has gone to great lengths to put multiple components in place to support the development of a young quarterback. This is so good for the former Heisman Trophy winner. Too often, young quarterbacks are drafted as game-changers without having the supporting infrastructure that allows them the best chance to succeed.

In the Panthers case, Fitterer & Co. have added some weapons for the offense, bringing aboard free agent receivers D.J. Chark and Adam Thielen, tight end Hayden Hurst and running back Miles Sanders. And with their second-round pick, Carolina snagged impressive Ole Miss receiver Jonathan Mingo.

Beyond the talent, though, the Panthers have put down key bricks for the foundation of the learning curve for Young.

Reich surely sets a tone as a former quarterback (his résumé over 14 NFL seasons includes rallying the Buffalo Bills, as a backup, to one of the greatest comeback wins ever in overcoming a 32-point deficit in a 1992 AFC divisional playoff against the Houston Oilers) who is well equipped to see the game through Young’s eyes. On top of that, though, he has also set the table with what could be an outstanding coaching staff that will benefit Young. Included:

-Thomas Brown, a first-time coordinator who comes off Sean McVay’s staff with the Rams and is considered a rising star in the coaching ranks.

-Jim Caldwell, who once tutored former No. 1 picks overall Peyton Manning and Matthew Stafford, signed on as a senior assistant.

-Josh McCown, who played 16 seasons as a journeyman quarterback, begins his first coaching job as Young’s position coach.

“In the quarterback room, there is a lot of power that goes into that room,” said Reich, who also brought in Parks Frazier from his former staff with the Indianapolis Colts as passing game coordinator.

Coaching staffs are so much larger than they were when Reich broke in with the Bills as a third-round pick in 1985. With two dozen assistants listed in various positions – not including strength and conditioning coaches – Reich has a staff nearly three times the size that the Bills had in 1985.

Considering the track records of the offensive staff (which includes Duce Staley as assistant head coach/running backs coach and an exceptional receivers coach in Shawn Jefferson), there’s so much wisdom to tap.

“You don’t want too many voices,” Reich said. “Too many cooks in the kitchen, as they say.”

In this case, it could be manageable. At least that’s how Reich sees it. He outlined the need to split up coaching assignments – “divide and conquer,” he said -- then streamlining the messages to flow through Brown, McCown and himself. And there will also be the presence of veteran quarterback Andy Dalton.

Young, 21, has a sense of how this might flow.

“Being a young guy in this league, I have never taken a snap and I am going to be around so many people who have had so much success and have been around so many great quarterbacks. It’s just such a wealth of knowledge and for me I am going to try to be a sponge and soak it all in. … I can’t wait to do everything I can to learn from them.”

Asked specifically about Caldwell, Young said he had conversations with the former Lions coach (who also won Super Bowls as an assistant with the Colts and Baltimore Ravens) and saw him was “very involved” in the pre-draft process. Yet the new quarterback also put his exchanges with Caldwell into a larger context.

“This coaching staff has really stuck out to me throughout this process,” he added.

It is fair to question why the Panthers didn’t keep Steve Wilks as head coach after his remarkable stint as interim coach last season, when he assumed the mess created by former coach Matt Rhule and had the team competing for a playoff spot that could have come with winning the (lowly) NFC South crown.

It’s possible that, given the opportunity, Wilks could have assembled his own impressive staff that might included Caldwell. But Wilks, who has landed to coordinate the San Francisco 49ers defense, never got that shot in Carolina.

In any event, Reich, ousted last season by the Colts, has put together a staff that puts to shame the inefficient group led by Rhule that flopped over parts of three seasons.

“We wanted a certain head coach, a certain type of head coach and we wanted the guy who could find the best position coaches we could possibly get,” said Tepper, who bought the franchise in 2018. “Frank ran a fantastic process for finding these guys.

“He went through the process, really, really tirelessly looking for the best person – not the person he knew – but the best person out there and I think it’s reflected in the staff that we have.”

As Tepper’s endorsement amplifies, the Panthers are bullish on their promising plan. Whether it is indeed the blueprint that leads to the ultimate victory will be proven over time. As always.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Panthers' Bryce Young has support structure he needs for NFL success