Rex Ryan, Randy Moss and the rest of ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” crew didn’t hold back while obliterating the winless Panthers — who have benched starting quarterback and 2023 No.1 overall draft pick Bryce Young — during this week’s pregame show.
Moss called Carolina “the laughingstock of the league,” while Ryan said the Panthers’ hiring of coach Dave Canales has been a “disaster,” including replacing Young with veteran Andy Dalton for Sunday’s game against the Raiders.
“I remember being in this league where the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders were the laughingstock of the National Football League. And then it came with the Cleveland Browns. Right now, the laughingstock of the National Football League is the Carolina Panthers,” Moss said. “And it’s not because of how they’re playing. It’s everything from ownership all the way down.”
The Panthers are off to an 0-2 start after finishing 2-15 one year ago, but they included what would have been the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft and wide receiver D.J. Moore to trade up to draft Young out of Alabama in 2023.
“This organization is a disaster. You could not pay me enough money to go play for the Carolina Panthers right now,” former NFL quarterback Alex Smith added. “The idea of an organization is to accumulate talent, not give it away. We trade Christian McCaffery. We trade away D.J. Moore. Bryan Burns, like, let’s just give away our best players.
“They have no idea how to identify talent and keep it. And oh, by the way, Baker Mayfield had a stop here, he wasn’t good enough. Sam Darnold was here, he wasn’t good enough. I pray that Bryce gets out of there…Word is out, nobody wants to go there.”
Ryan, the former coach of the Jets, said he knew the hiring of Canales, who was most recently the offensive coordinator of the Buccaneers, would not work out.
“From Week 1, I really questioned the hiring of Dave Canales as the head coach,” Ryan said. “And the reason I did, and I’m sure part of it is he’s the quarterback guru or the quarterback fixer or whatever.
“Yeah. Let me tell you something about a young quarterback. You know how you fix him when they’re struggling? They’re gonna struggle, right? With a running game and a defense. That’s how you do it. The funny thing is, so I bring in Dave Canales, he was dead-last in Tampa, dead-last in rushing the football and rushing per attempt. And that’s who you put in there to help this guy? I knew it was going to be a disaster. I thought it was the worst hire ever. I really did. For that kid’s development, I thought it was terrible. This has gone exactly how I thought it would go.”
Ryan added that he “questioned” the pick of Young — who was selected one pick ahead of current Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud — “because this is a size and speed league.”
“But you know what? You can’t question that kid,” Ryan continued. “He had all the other intangibles. He never had the size, but he’s smart, he knew how to deliver the ball. And they weren’t the only team that wanted him.
“By the way, they didn’t originally have the first pick in the draft. They traded up for that pick, so for me, that team right there, by the way, used to be able to play defense until they traded the team away. I’m sorry, it was a horrible hire, you’ve gone through a million coaches, and you still don’t have it right.”
Several teams reportedly already have expressed interest in trading for the 23-year-old Young, and former NFL linebacker Tedy Bruschi said he hopes that comes true.
“I may play again later this year, but I want out. If I’m Bryce, I want out,” Bruschi said. “Because you messed me up, you’re not properly developed. I’m sure he’s got a team [interested], and I would advise him to get out.”
