Bryce Young to Panthers has all the juice, and it’s going to impact Texans at No. 2 in NFL Draft

When the Carolina Panthers pulled off their early-March trade with the Chicago Bears to move to the top of the 2023 NFL Draft, they gave themselves an opportunity to take their time, evaluate all of the quarterback options available to them in the draft, and make a well-informed decision.

Reading the tea leaves, it seems that decision has been reached.

All signs point to Bryce Young being the pick for Carolina in the first-overall spot, giving the Panthers perhaps their quarterback of the future, and possibly setting the stage for a bit of a shocker when the Houston Texans are on the clock in the second-overall spot.

Before we dive into that, we have to discuss the tea leaves. The first major sign was the decision by Young to cancel his remaining pre-draft visits. The most notable item left on his itinerary? A meeting with the Indianapolis Colts, who currently sit in the fourth spot in the first round:

Now, there could be another reason for this decision. After all, Young also took a pre-draft trip to meet with the Texans. Young could have been told by Houston that if he was available at two, he would be the pick for the Texans. However, the growing sentiment around NFL media was that this was a sure sign that Young was the pick for Carolina at No. 1. “Young shutting down any further visits will fuel the belief within the league that the 21-year-old QB will be the Carolina Panthers’ selection at No. 1 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft,” wrote Kevin Patra at NFL.com.

There are other data points as well, and we start with the odds-makers. In the wake of the news that Young was canceling his remaining visits, his odds of being the first-overall selection skyrocketed:

It sure seems like the odds-makers know something!

Now, there could be other reasons for these odds moving, such as heavy money coming in on Young in the wake of Monday’s news regarding cancellations. However, the odds were moving in his favor to begin with, and as Edgar Salmingo Jr. noted above, the gap between Young and C.J. Stroud as the first-overall selection widened from 15 to 1600 over the course of a week, not overnight.

So we’ve talked about visits, and we’ve talked about odds. Now it is time to talk about the insiders.

In recent days, a number of highly-informed members of the NFL media world have make the case that Young is the pick for Carolina.

Among them are ESPN’s Adam Schefter (“I think it’s a waste of time,” Schefter said of Young’s visit to Houston. “I think the ship has sailed. I think Bryce Young’s gonna be the No. 1 pick), NBC Sports’s Peter King (“As it was told to me that weekend—and I’m gonna use this word because it’s exactly the word that was used to me—there are people in that building who had ‘leanings.’ And I believe those leanings, now, were to Bryce Young.”), and Houston radio host — and NFL draft analyst for NFL.com — Lance Zierlein, who had this to say:

“If it were up to Frank Reich, I think he might rather have a bigger quarterback. But if the owner pulls the trigger there, which I believe is gonna happen, the Texans have no chance at getting Bryce Young,” Zierlein stated on air last Friday. “Like, even if they offered a trade up, they’re not gonna be able to get him.

“The only way they’d be able to get him—what I was told—is if Bryce tries to tell them he wouldn’t play for them. That’s the only way they would have a chance—saying ‘I’m not playing for you’ and that’s not Bryce’s personality.”

Those are three people who are pretty darn plugged in, all saying the same thing: Young is the pick at one.

Finally, we do have to consider this, given the social-media age we are living in.

Eagle-eyed observers noted on Twitter that new Panthers quarterbacks coach Josh McCown followed just one of the draft quarterbacks on Instagram.

Young:

That soon changed, as it was noted that McCown began following Stroud, Will Levis, and Anthony Richardson. But in the world we live in, this is at least worth noting.

Now if Young is indeed the selection at the top of the draft, the door is open for the Texans to take the next quarterback on the board.

Or so we thought.

Because in recent days, the idea of Houston passing on a QB with the first of their two first-round selections is gaining steam. Those three insiders noted above — Schefter, King, and Zierlein — along with others such as ESPN’s Matt Miller have all discussed the idea that Houston could go in a different direction at two, and wait to sort out quarterback when they are on the clock again in the first round.

That direction could even include a trade out of the second-overall spot.

During his pre-draft press conference on Monday Texans general manager Nick Caserio confirmed that he has fielded calls on a trade for that pick, and that he is indeed “listening.” Following the presser, Zierlein noted on social media that while he initially believed that Houston would still take a quarterback, that thinking has changed:

Houston moving off the idea of a QB at two, and thinking about moving down?

Perhaps yet one more data point that Young is the pick at one.

Thankfully, we will know for sure in just over a week.