The Carolina Panthers select Alabama QB Bryce Young with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Video Transcript

- Well, as expected, the Carolina Panthers have made Heisman winning quarterback Bryce Young the number one overall pick in the 2023 draft. We didn't think it was going to be that way after the Panthers traded up to get that number one spot with the Chicago Bears. CJ Stroud became the betting favorite to be the pick, and then over time, dribs and drabs of information trickled out, the betting lines changed, the reports multiplied, and before you knew it, Bryce Young was the guy.

And as we saw some craziness with the betting markets this week with Will Levis having his odds improved, the key was there was never a report, never a suggestion, never saw anything coming out of Carolina that it was going to be anything but Bryce Young. And if you're the Panthers, you can't change without getting the word out there ahead of time. So your fan base is ready for it. It would have been a great surprise if it had happened. It would have been a good development for my business generally, but instead, as we expected, Bryce Young becomes the guy.

And this is a calculated risk for the Carolina Panthers because he's not a prototypical quarterback. We talk about analytics all the time as it relates to game decisions. Analytics has always been a part of personnel evaluation. And the analytics are not in favor of this pick. He is not prototypical size, height, or weight or hand size for a quarterback, and that's an issue. That is where the Panthers have decided to roll the dice on a guy with an upside but also a downside. And the analytics of personnel evaluation tell teams that chances are this isn't going to work.

But there's still a chance it will, and that's why the Panthers did it. They're reaching for the brass ring. They want the franchise quarterback. They're willing to take a little risk in the hopes of getting a significant reward. And now, as we go forward with the other picks that come, the other quarterbacks that get drafted, it'll be that same apples to apples comparison that we've seen with multiple quarterbacks being taken off the board in the same first round of the same draft. Who works out? Who doesn't work out? Who got it right? Who got it wrong?

And the folks who get it wrong often end up getting shown the door sooner than later by the team they were working for when that pick was made. So we know for now Bryce Young is the guy for the Panthers. We don't know how it's going to go, but it be fun to watch it play out over the coming months and years.