Bryce Young's tenure as the Carolina Panthers' starting quarterback will begin right away, as head coach Frank Reich announced Wednesday that the 2023 No. 1 overall pick will start the team's season opener against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 10.
Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner, will become the first rookie quarterback to start for the Panthers in Week 1 since former NFL MVP Cam Newton in 2011.
“When we decided to pick Bryce we imagined and saw the vision that we would be standing here today saying he is the QB1,” Reich told reporters.
Reich's decision was not unexpected, as Young took over first-team reps from veteran Andy Dalton near the end of Carolina's organised team activities in June.
"I think Bryce has made good progress. You can just tell, he and the whole group on offence ... you can just tell everybody is feeling more comfortable with it. Certainly, Bryce is as well. So we feel good about where he's at."
The Panthers traded two first-round picks, including the No. 9 overall selection in this year's draft, and wide receiver D.J. Moore to the Chicago Bears in March in order to move up to No. 1 and take the diminutive but dynamic Young as their intended franchise quarterback.
Young earned that honour with a stellar three-year career at the University of Alabama in which he completed nearly 66 per cent of his attempts while totalling 8,356 passing yards and 80 touchdown passes with just 12 interceptions.
The 5-foot-10 California native won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore after throwing for 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns in 15 games and leading Alabama to the College Football Playoff championship game.
"That's a huge blessing," Young said in being named the Week 1 starter. "For me, it doesn't change my approach. I want to make sure I take things day by day. There are a lot of things that I want to keep growing in, keep improving in.
"We are all as a team in this together."
Young takes over a Carolina team that recorded its fifth consecutive losing season by going 7-10 in 2022. The Panthers' streak of five straight non-playoff seasons is tied with the Falcons for the second-longest active drought among NFC teams.
Bengals wide receiver Higgins to sign franchise tag
After months of speculation regarding where Tee Higgins would play in the 2024 NFL season, the star wide receiver will officially remain with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Higgins will sign his franchise tag with the Bengals on Saturday, and is expected to be present when the team begins training camp next month.
The signing was first reported by Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer, and later confirmed by NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.
Higgins had the franchise tag placed on him by the Bengals on February 26, and then asked to be traded a few weeks later.
In early April, however, he then said he intended to play for Cincinnati in 2024.
By signing the tag, which will pay him $21.8million in salary for the upcoming season, Higgins and the Bengals have until July 15 to work out a multi-year deal.
Higgins is coming off an injury-marred 2023 season, as he was limited to just 12 games due to ailments to his hamstring and ribs.
He finished the year with 42 catches for 256 yards and five touchdowns after back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2021 and 2022.
The Bengals reached the AFC conference championship game in those two seasons before finishing last in the AFC South in 2023 with a 9-8 record.
A second-round pick by Cincinnati in 2020, the 25-year-old Higgins has 257 career receptions for 3,684 yards and 24 touchdowns in 58 games in his first four pro seasons.
The Bengals are scheduled to open training camp on July 26.
Jaguars, QB Lawrence agree to 5-year, $275 million extension
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars have agreed to a five-year, $275 million extension that includes $200 million guaranteed, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
With a $55 million average salary, Lawrence ties Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow for the most in NFL history.
Detroit’s Jared Goff, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers are the other quarterbacks making at least $50 million per year.
Lawrence’s deal is surpassed in total guaranteed and fully guaranteed money only by Burrow and Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson.
The 24-year-old Lawrence is entering the fourth season of his rookie deal and the Jaguars exercised his fifth-year option earlier this offseason.
The first overall pick in the 2021 draft, Lawrence has completed 63.8 percent of his passes in 50 regular season starts for 11,770 yards with 58 touchdowns and 39 interceptions. He has compiled a 21-31 record as a starter in three seasons, including 1-1 in the playoffs. He led the Jaguars to an AFC South title and a playoff win in 2022, earning a Pro Bowl selection.
Jacksonville and Lawrence got off to an 8-3 start last season and appeared to be legitimate contenders in the AFC, but the Jaguars lost five of their final six games and failed to reach the playoffs after spending three months atop the AFC South.
Lawrence missed the first game of his career against Carolina on December 31 due to a shoulder injury, a 26-0 victory for the Jaguars.
He also missed significant practice time because of other injuries: a sprained left knee in Week 6, a sprained right ankle in Week 13 and a concussion in Week 15.
Patriots to retire number 12 shirt and build statue in Brady's honour
The New England Patriots will retire the number 12 shirt and build a statue in honour of iconic quarterback Tom Brady.
Brady was inducted into the Patriots' Hall of Fame on Wednesday, having led them to six Super Bowl titles during his 20-year stint with the franchise.
The three-time MVP is the all-time regular-season leader in pass attempts (12,050), completions (7,753), passing yards (89,214) and touchdown passes (649) in the NFL.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the statue would be placed outside the franchise's Hall of Fame to recognise Brady "not as the greatest in franchise history, but as the greatest in all of NFL history".
"I am eternally grateful. I am Tom Brady. And I am a Patriot," Brady said at the ceremony at the Gilette Stadium.
Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick added: "Thank you for all that you've done for us. Thank you for all you've done for me. And thank you for the example and motto you've been for all of us on a daily basis for 20 years."
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