Rising Star Bryce Young Secures Record-Breaking Rookie Contract as Panthers Lock in Future with $37.96 Million Deal
Contracts have already been signed for the first overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Rapoport reports that Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers have agreed on his four-year, $37.96 million rookie contract. Young will receive a signing bonus of almost $24.6 million.
The team then made the news official, and rookies are scheduled to report to training camp on Saturday. In a process that started with the Panthers’ sensational draft trade in March and one Carolina hopes to culminate with a victorious comeback to prominence, putting ink to paper represents the next step.
The Bears trade No. 1 pick Bryce Young to Panthers for D.J. Moore and four draft picks in a blockbuster deal that shakes the NFL
Carolina answered Chicago’s No. 1 pick in Friday’s draft, which had been unlocked for weeks.
According to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, the Bears are giving the Panthers the top overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft in exchange for receiver D.J. Moore and two additional first-round picks.
Game-Changer on the Horizon on Analyzing D.J. Moore’s Impact on the Chicago Bears
In an interview with NBC Sports Chicago’s Under Center podcast, wide receiver Tyler Scott said, “D.J. Moore is everything he’s promised. He plays in such a serene manner.” He had a sense of control that he knew was all he needed. Football players know how it appears. And he plays with control. But he could be playing slowly or behind. It’s obvious he has experience because of his work. He’s simply competing at a higher level than everyone else.
The entire haul sent to Chicago reads like a shopping list: Moore, a receiver who just finished the first year of a three-year, $61.88 million deal with the Panthers, the ninth overall pick this year, a second-round pick in 2023 (originally the 61st overall from the 49ers), a first-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2025.
The deal was done to get a highly sought-after draft pick that Carolina would utilize to draft its franchise quarterback.
In exchange for one draft pick, Carolina will logically only consider quarterbacks. Considering two quarterbacks dazzled scouts at the NFL Scouting Combine – Anthony Richardson of Florida and C.J. Stroud of Ohio State — it is unsurprising that the Panthers finalized a deal only one week after the two finished working out.
From Rookie to Superstar of a Quarterback Phenom
Young threw for 8,200 yards, 79 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions during his college career at Alabama, where he was a Heisman Trophy nominee.
Young is slightly built, standing at 5-foot-10 and 204 pounds, and is significantly more of a pocket passer despite his escapability than Cam Newton, the previous quarterback Carolina selected with the top overall pick.
There is some resemblance between him and the Carolina Panthers. After previously making the playoffs in four of the previous five seasons, including a Super Bowl berth, during Newton’s peak from 2013 to 2017, Carolina is currently in the midst of a five-year postseason drought amid a unsuccessful QB carousel.
Panthers head coach Frank Reich and the team’s top wide receiver, D.J. Moore, dramatically tied their hopes of a turnaround to Young.
The 21-year-old has committed to his contract, and training camp is about to start, so the race to the payoff—whatever it may be—is on.
