Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
Carolina’s Bryce Young trade is an all-time disaster.
All the Houston Texans had to do was lose in the final game of the NFL season to earn the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Houston was just 2-13-1 on the year as it entered its season finale vs. a hapless Indianapolis Colts team whose 4-11-1 record somehow looked impressive by comparison. With such a valuable draft pick on the line, the Texans were widely expected to tank the game and head into the offseason with the ultimate bargaining chip.
Head coach Lovie Smith had other plans. Knowing his fate with the organization was all but sealed, Smith pushed his team hard to win the game, and against all odds they delivered.
With under a minute left in regulation, Texans QB Davis Mills delivered a strike to tight end Jordan Akins for the go-ahead touchdown. Somehow, Houston had won its third game of the season, in the process falling to the No. 2 pick in the draft. Smith was fired hours after the game.
The Chicago Bears were the big benefactor of the Texans’ shocking win, jumping up to No. 1 in the draft for the first time since 1947. It put the Bears in a fascinating position: a quarterback was expected to go No. 1 overall, but Chicago already had a young passer it wasn’t ready to give up on in Justin Fields. The Bears decided to put the pick up to the highest bidder, asking for another top-10 pick, a future first rounder, additional mid-round compensation, and a star veteran player in return.
The Carolina Panthers were open for business. Coming off a 7-10 season with Baker Mayfield at quarterback, the team was in the market for an upgrade at QB. It decided this was the time to push its chips to the center of the table and make an aggressive move up the draft board. Here was the final trade agreement between Carolina and Chicago:
Panthers receive: No. 1 overall pick in 2023 NFL Draft
Bears receive: No. 9 overall pick in 2023 draft, 49ers’ second-round selection in 2023 (No. 61 overall), Carolina’s first-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2025, and wide receiver D.J. Moore.
Quarterbacks went with three of the first four selections in the 2023 draft. Ultimately, the Panthers were choosing between Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, and Florida’s Anthony Richardson. In the end, Carolina went with the consensus top prospect and selected Young, a 5’10, 204-pound signal caller who would immediately be the smallest QB in the NFL. The rest is history.
The Panthers benched Bryce Young on Monday just two games into his second pro season. Carolina will start veteran Andy Dalton in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders following two pitiful performances that underlined just how far away both the Panthers and their young QB are from competing.
Young was awful through two games, going 31-of-56 for 245 yards, zero touchdowns, and three interceptions in blowout losses to the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers. Carolina’s offensive line protected Young about as well as the team could hope, but a lack of talent at wide receiver, a poor game plan, and the unavoidable size limitations all coalesced to lead to Young’s benching.
Young started just 18 games in his career before the Panthers pulled the plug. Even Jamarcus Russell — the first player mentioned when discussing the worst No. 1 overall picks in NFL history — started 25 games for the Raiders before he was out of the league. Young will get another chance somewhere, but it sure feels like his Carolina tenure is over after first-year head coach Dave Canales pulled the plug. It feels like a quick hook for Young, but his performance was so poor that Carolina was worried it could have lost the locker room if it kept playing him.
Dalton may win a game or two, but he’s likely not saving the Panthers from being the worst team in the NFL. Unfortunately for Carolina, the 2025 NFL Draft is not a good QB draft. Unfortunately for Carolina, it’s still paying off its enormous trade to the Bears.
With Young as its starting QB last season, the Panthers finished 2-15 overall. The first-round draft pick they originally sent to Chicago in the Young trade came in at No. 1 overall. This time, the Bears decided they were done with Fields, and selected USC QB Caleb Williams with the first pick.
Here’s what the full haul for the Bears looks like right now:
RT Darnell Wright, who the Bears picked at No. 10 in 2023 after another trade down with the Eagles
QB Caleb Williams, the No. 1 pick in 2024
CB Tyrique Stevenson, the No. 56 pick in 2023 after a slight trade up
D.J. Moore
Carolina’s second rounder in 2025
Given how poorly the Panthers are playing right now, they might be coughing up the first pick in the second round (No. 33 overall) to the Bears to complete this deal.
It’s already a massive haul for the Bears. Williams was a much stronger No. 1 overall prospect than Young and a ‘generational talent’ to some scouts, though he’s also off to a slow start in Chicago so far so far. Darnell Wright had a solid rookie season for Chicago and is entrenched at right tackle. Tyrique Stevenson has been very good as well, and is the No. 2 corner in one of the league’s better defensive backfields. All did D.J. Moore did in his first season in Chicago was finish with 96 receptions for 1,364 yards and eight touchdowns, all career highs. The Bears are hoping they get an All-Pro quarterback, an All-Pro receiver, a long-time starting right tackle, and a long-time starting cornerback in this deal even before they get Carolina’s second rounder in 2025.
Of course, there’s also the pesky fact that Carolina passed on a franchise quarterback at No. 1 to take Young. C.J. Stroud has essentially been one of the best quarterbacks in football since the Texans selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in 2023. If the Panthers had just taken Stroud instead of Young, this trade with Chicago might look kind of brilliant. Instead, it’s already on the short list of the worst trades in NFL history.
Stroud and Williams’ trajectories will ultimately determine if this is viewed as one of the worst trades in sports history, or just within the confines of the NFL. Either way, Carolina’s Bryce Young experience seems like it’s already over. They will be working their way out of this hole for years to come.
