Bryce Young is the odds-on favorite to be the Carolina Panthers’ selection to kick off Thursday’s NFL Draft. As they’ve gone through the process, he has emerged as the guy that many believe will be their pick after they traded up from ninth to first overall. He’s an excellent prospect, one the Panthers are potentially in love with.
However, he’s not a perfect prospect. There rarely is, but Young is not. Ex-NFL head coach Mike Smith, who coached the Atlanta Falcons, believes there’s one thing hurting Young’s case.
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He spoke exclusively to the Ballfather podcast:
“I think it’s been trending that way over the last couple weeks, Reggie. And I have a different opinion of who the number one quarterback is, but Bryce Young checks all the boxes except one, and we talked about it and that’s his height.”
Height has been Young’s biggest question mark and there’s a reason for that according to Smith:
“And there, you know, there seems to be a change in the feelings about the height of a quarterback. And Bryce Young is going to be another one of those outliers. Is he going to be another Drew Brees? Is going to be another Russell Wilson that, you know, can take a team and win it and win a Super Bowl. Statistics, they know, but things are changing.”
He continued:
“And I think this is a you know, this is I think we’re at a pivot point. And what we’re seeing as far as college quarterbacks in terms of their height and what they’re being asked to do, because that’s the feeder system for the NFL.”
Young stands a touch over 5-foot-10 and weighs a little over 200 pounds. That is a little slight for an NFL quarterback, though smaller quarterbacks have and will continue to succeed. Will Young be the next one?
Bryce Young has addressed his size
Bryce Young has heard all of the doubts regarding his size. He recently addressed the issue:
“People think with this draft process I must be sick of the talk about my size, but I’ve dealt with it my whole life. For me, I’m not someone who wants to go out and combat everything people say about me or refute. It’s the beauty of sports, we all have our favorites, root for certain people and have our opinions. I’m good with that.”
Some team will draft him, whether it’s the Panthers at one, the Houston Texans at two or someone else.