At some point during the 2024 season, Carolina will relegate Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 draft, to a headset and clipboard. That’s the hottest NFL take entering 2024, shared by The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz on Friday’s Bill Simmons podcast.
“At the end of the season,” Ruiz predicted, “we all agree that he’s QB4 in his class, maybe even QB5 in his class.”
Simmons was shocked. Benched? Halfwaythrough, it’s going to be that bad? Ruiz helped Simmons understand his thinking.
“It’s a Zach Wilson thing,” Ruiz explained, “where you frame it as, ‘We need him to take a step back and see things from the outside looking in. We got Andy Dalton here, a capable veteran who can show him the ropes.’ Andy Dalton was the only quarterback who really performed well when he got to play last year. He had the same supporting cast as Bryce Young but looked a lot better.”
Ruiz said he evaluated every NFL starting quarterbacks and purposely left the younger players for last. Then, he compared Young and Tennessee’s Will Levis side by side and, no question, would take Levis over Young. And, looking at rookie starters in recent years, unlike Wilson, Josh Allen and even Blaine Gabbert, Young didn’t offer a split metric that provided a glimmer of hope, a trait to build on, Ruiz said.
“But Dave Canales worked magic for Baker Mayfield,” Simmons countered, referring to Carolina’s first-year head coach. “And now it’s going to be Bryce Young. That’s the only case I’ve heard for it. Yeah, it was a bad year but he’s learned some stuff in Year 2.”
But Canales didn’t bring Mike Evans from Tampa Bay, Ruiz said.
Obvious disclaimer: Carolina has 17 scheduled NFL games in 2024 and many things can happen. That’s why they play the games. Check back in early January. .
The balance of Ruiz’s top-five takes entering the 2024 NFL season:
2. Matthew Stafford will earn league MVP and the Rams will brandish their most productive offense in the Sean McVay era.
3. The New York Jets are a top-five team in the NFL.
4. Philadelphia’s offense will be a disaster and the Eagles will hit reset following the 2024 season.
5. Doug Pederson is the NFL’s most overrated coach and the Jaguars will finish last in the AFC South.