4 burning Carolina Panthers fan questions entering Week 4 vs. the Bengals

Have you heard the good news? No, I’m not knocking on your front door and trying to persuade you into our congregation, per se. I’m talking about the Carolina Panthers finding themselves in the win column with their Week 3 drubbing of the Las Vegas Raiders.

The much maligned and ridiculed team from Charlotte, North Carolina pulled up to Allegiant Stadium with the intent to disprove the doubters. It was mission accomplished, at least for one week.

Veteran quarterback Andy Dalton took the reins and led an offensive attack that would’ve made Cam Newton proud. The Red Rifle became the first signal-caller in Carolina history to win the FedEx Player of the Week on the shoulders of his 319-yard passing and three touchdowns.

Dalton became the first pass thrower in the entire 2024 NFL regular season to go for both 300 passing yards and three scores. It was a heroic effort when the Panthers needed it most.

The resurgent offense also generated life from the defense and special teams. It was a three-phase victory for the good guys. One that this fanbase, and team, desperately needed. An underrated element to all of this is the upbeat nature that we get to approach the weekly mailbag with.

In the previous two weeks, we’ve been forced to discuss woeful decisions about incompetency and meddling from higher-ups. We’ve had to answer existential ‘what is the point’ inquiries. This week? Well, some of that still - but coming off a win.

Let’s get into the questions that you’ve submitted.

Burning questions Carolina Panthers fans are asking entering Week 4

Trading Bryce Young

What would be wrong with cutting our losses and trading (Bryce) Young and having (Jack) Plummer back up Dalton? – Eddie Barefoot

Let’s answer this one in order of the questioning. Jack Plummer is an undrafted free-agent rookie quarterback that we saw more of than most fans cared to in the preseason.

Give credit where it’s due - he showed progression from the first two weeks to the final showing against the Buffalo Bills. However, for all the doubt towards Bryce Young (and it’s relatively fairly doled out, for what it’s worth), the former No. 1 overall pick also looked terrific in his lone preseason series against second-ish string defenders.

Plummer played the even deeper reserves in his successful jaunt. It’s expecting a lot, should his number be called thanks to injury or whatever the reason may be, for that player to come in and find any level of acceptable play.

As for the Carolina Panthers cutting their losses and trading Young? it’s all contingent on what the organization genuinely believes they have with the young (no pun intended) signal caller.

If the trade offers come in and they’re for Day 3 draft capital (fourth, fifth, or sixth-round picks) it’s likely much more valuable to let this self-proclaimed ‘developmental coaching staff’ get the remainder of the season to work through the mental hurdles and physical coaching points to find out if there is a future or not. After all, the franchise invested a hefty amount into having the opportunity to select the former Heisman Trophy winner.

They don’t necessarily need to hang on to Young to avoid the admission of failure. But if the better path to success was sitting behind the veteran and learning. Well, he has that opportunity right now.

Should the team decide they can bear to split paths, I’d anticipate that being more of an offseason happening rather than right away this year. The only way I could envision them pulling the trigger this soon would be if a team came with a Godfather type of offer. So I’ll pose this question to the readers: would you offer any semblance of an ‘offer they can’t refuse’ to acquire Young?