Dave Canales and the Carolina Panthers had no other choice.

The eight months leading up to the Carolina Panthers’ 2024 season opener were filled with unbridled optimism. Optimism that things would be different than the disaster class of 2023. Optimism that Dave Canales could rescue the Panthers’ flagging franchise quarterback that they had mortgaged their future to. Optimism that things would finally turn around for the better after six years of failed attempts to play football in Charlotte.

The excitement surrounding training camp was full of rainbows and butterflies. Canales would let Young play wild and free. The quarterback had regained the confidence in his talents that had evaporated at some point during the Reich era. Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis were the perfect handpicked additions to the porous offensive line inside. Diontae Johnson and Xavier Legette brought pitch-tilting skills to a decimated battalion of perimeter weapons.

The optimism that prevailed in the months between January and September quickly gave way to the familiar sinking feeling that Panthers football fans have felt for nearly a decade.

The Bryce Young era came like a lion. The bold trade with the Bears that brought the first pick to Charlotte. The unwavering confidence that Carolina had their man despite CJ Stroud’s Rookie of the Year campaign. The fact that Young’s off-script swashbuckling skills that earned Tuscaloosa a Heisman Trophy came to Charlotte finally got people in the organization excited about the future for the first time in the post-COVID NFL era.

Wham, womp.

The Bryce Young era came like a lion but left like a lamb. On an innocuous, rainy Monday afternoon after a crushing loss to a more talented team that has become the norm on Mint Street. Bryce Young was officially benched for veteran quarterback Andy Dalton, and that was clearly the right decision by Dave Canales and his staff. Bryce Young was completely incapable of moving the offense down the field. Plain and simple. And for a regime in full evaluation mode early in its tenure, veteran backup and eventual starter Andy Dalton gives the team its best chance to figure out which of the 51 non-quarterbacks on the roster are worth investing in.

From now on, evaluation is everything for Canales and his team. Does Andy Dalton give the Panthers a better chance to win games than Bryce Young? Absolutely. At the very least, Dalton will be big in the pocket and throw downfield. Something Young wasn’t willing to do early in his career.

However, the roster that Dalton will lead onto the field still lacks talent. Expecting Dalton to lead a playoff push is naive. Expecting Dalton to give guys like Xavier Legette, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Jonathan Mingo and Diontae Johnson chances to play with the ball is the bare minimum, an expectation that Bryce Young failed to meet.

In 2025, Charlotte will likely bring in another long-term starting quarterback. Whether from the draft, free agency, or trade, neither Dalton nor Young are expected to start Week 1 in 2025. Dave Canales’ most important task from now until September of next year is to figure out which players will still be on the roster in Week 1 of 2025.

Is it worth developing one of the inexperienced defensive players (like Trevin Wallace, Eku Leota, DJ Johnson, etc.)? What does the offense have to offer with its trio of rookie players at the best positions? Can Ikem Ekwonu (who played arguably the best game of his young career on Sunday) secure the blindside? Those are the burning questions that deserve answers, and Andy Dalton gives Canales the best chance to find answers.

During Canales’ opening press conference, he expressed his desire to make Bryce Young one of 11 players on a unified offense. He immediately took the pressure off the struggling quarterback and promised to build a solid team around him so he doesn’t have to dress up as Superman every week.

Canales and general manager Dan Morgan were successful in this endeavor. The Panthers’ rebuilt offensive line was one of the best in the league within two weeks. The newly assembled weapons found space in the secondary. Bryce Young was unable to take advantage of the improved conditions and now has the chance to watch a 13-year veteran take the reins of the improved team.

For the other 51 players on the roster, the move to Dalton is a reprieve. You can’t imagine how demoralizing it is for an offense to step on the field when confidence in its playmaker is waning. And for a defense already at a disadvantage due to the offseason talent loss? On Sunday afternoon, they barely had a chance to take their helmets off and talk to their position coaches before they were pummeled again and again by JK Dobbins and the Chargers’ relentless rushing attack.

From now on, the Carolina Panthers will play better football with Dalton at quarterback. That probably won’t lead to wins. And it certainly won’t lead to the playoffs. But it will give Canales and Dan Morgan a clearer picture of what the future of Carolina Panthers football looks like. And for the team’s fans who have been staring at a jumbled mess of tarot cards trying to figure out what will happen next on Mint Street, the fresh start that this decision will ultimately create will be a welcome sight.

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