Breaking news. Bryce Young is the number one pick for the Carolina Panthers. I'm Luis Fernandez. He's Mark Bergen. This is W R L Triangle and into a bit of an emergency pod type situation. We're gonna give you instant reactions to the pick by the Panthers here. Uh, number one overall, going with Alabama quarterback, the first Alabama player to be selected number one overall. Uh Bryce Young, he's, he's pretty good. Mark. What are your first thoughts? Love him or hate him? We're gonna be talking about his size between now and week one of the 2023 season, Lewis. And this was pretty clear really from mid April when the odds really shifted early on, when the Panthers got the number one overall pick, it looked like, ok, it was gonna be CJ Strat out of Ohio State and then something flipped and the odds changed drastically in Young's favor for better or for worse. You've got Bryce Young five ft 10, what, £204. So Lewis, you've got the numbers on how the odds are stacked against him in terms of the history of undersized quarterbacks in this league. You're hoping that Bryce Young is an outlier that he's an exception, not the norm when it comes to smaller quarterbacks in the NFL. Sure. We, we have a video on W R L sports fan right now, but, um, you know, there's 522 quarterbacks have been drafted since 1970 I believe it's 21 of them. We're six ft even. Uh, and that's where you have like Joe Theismann and, uh, and, uh, Drew Brees, you know, who have won Super Bowls, Joe Theismann won an M V P. Drew Brees finished a runner up to M V P twice. By the way. Did you know that Joe Theismann's name is actually Joe Theismann, but he had it changed when he was trying to be, get a Heisman at Notre Dame. I did not know that Lewis, I didn't find that out today. You're teaching me some history here at W R, I'll triangle it too. I, I found that out today. Um, back to, back to the topic at hand. Uh, quarterbacks that are 5 11. if I off top man, if I remember it was, I wanna say six of them in total, maybe, maybe a little bit more than that. Um, but Russell Wilson really is the, the guy to write home about. Obviously, he's won a Super Bowl. Uh, and then, but when it comes to 5 10, that is first off, that's the shortest that a quarterback has been when they were drafted since 1970 the three quarterbacks, uh, gosh, the second guy has escaped me but the, the two main ones are Kyler Murray and, um, Doug fluy. Uh, those, those are the main ones. Um, so both of them had success. Um, and I think the big key there is, uh, those that were drafted at 5 10. Uh, they had, um, a lot of production in college. They won the Heisman Bryce Young. Now adding to that mix being 5 10 and I think a quarter, technically, um, he, he won the Heisman, uh, one of he's the only Alabama quarterback to ever win the Heisman. Um, and so he, he can continues to add that to the mix. Uh, nine. Then as I just, this will be the last that I rattle off here. But, uh, nine quarterbacks at six ft tall or shorter have started a playoff game, uh, that were drafted since 1970. Uh, and, uh, three of them have won a Super Bowl and those are Joe Theismann Russell Wilson and Drew Brees. Um, so, yeah, it's working against the odds, but it is not impossible. That's for sure. Lewis, it's really 50 50 when it comes to quarterbacks, especially in the first round. And I'll say this, what stuck out to me tonight was how buttoned up Bryce Young was with all of his responses. They seemed a little rehearsed, but I'd rather have your quarterback be the face of the franchise, the CEO, that's how you have to comport and how you have to conduct yourself. Now, whether he's successful or not, I've always said, you know, he's gotta, you gotta have five bodyguards in front of him, but I look at the quarterbacks in the NFC South division and what are we working with? It's a lot of mediocrity. Lewis Buccaneers have the, the Buccaneers have Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask who we don't know what to expect. Saints have Derek Carr who's a serviceable veteran Falcons have Desmond Ritter and Taylor Heineke. So if Bryce Young's worth his merit, maybe not in 2023 maybe 500 gets you into the playoffs. But what does success look like with this pick? It's being around 500 being in one of the worst divisions in the NFL. Maybe you can sneak into the playoffs but come 2024 2025 while Bryce Young's on his rookie deal, you hope that the Panthers can get back into attention, not just in the NFC South, but in the NFC overall, go back to a Super Bowl. That's the hope with this pick. Exactly. I mean, and I, I don't, I don't think the NFC South is going to be as bad as last year just because I, I don't think it's possible for them to be as bad as they were last year and the Panthers had one of the worst offenses in the league, had a solid defense and, and they were right there. He almost won the division at the very end if not for a couple of games against the, the Buccaneers there. But, you know, the, I think the Saints will be better. I think Derek Carr um with a, he's gonna have some great weapons, Chris Olave and Michael Thomas if he ever stays healthy. Um In New Orleans, I think he's got a lot of possibilities there. Alvin Camara. Um So I, I mean, I still imagine that the Saints are going to be the front runners in that division. But if the Panthers were able to accomplish what they did last year with the team, they had adding a quarterback like Bryce Young who, you know, I think comes in with a lot of the, you know, intangibles already. He comes in with a lot of the ready to go type skill sets that you need in the quarterback. A lot of things that Bryce Young is so good at are hard to teach. Uh If, if Bryce Young was six ft two and I know he's not six ft two, but if Bryce Young was six ft two, this would have been no question, easy dunk Panthers might not have been able to get him because maybe more teams would have been trying to trade up to that number one pick. Um So I just, I, I, I, if I'm, if I was, if I'm a Panthers fan, I look at this as like, man, this is, this is a, this is a really good place to be at. Um You can you see if he can get you out of kind of that um NFL purgatory and, and get you into a position where you're in the playoffs and you know, hosting games at Bank of America Stadium if, if not, at the very least, um trying to go have some fun. Yeah, and trying to get your quarterback that they haven't had since Cam Newton left for the first time. Lewis. That's really the, the big thing, whether it was Bridgewater and then Baker Mayfield and Sam Arnold and it's just like I could go on and on, uh Bryce Young becoming the first ever number one overall pick for Nick Saban. I thought that was pretty incredible. And then how about Bryce Alabama in general too? Just in general, Bryce Young and Will Anderson first Alabama teammates drafted in the top five of the NFL draft. So congrats to both of those players, Anderson going to the Texans, Texans very aggressive, taking CJ Strat at number two and then trading up in a trade with the Cardinals to get Anderson. So Lewis, I mean, I don't know, I, I still part of me says, should they have gone stroud? Should they, should they have gone Anthony Richardson time will tell? But I thought you hit the nail on the head with your segment is that you're banking on that. Bryce Young is the exception, not the rule when it comes to undersized quarterbacks. And there's a heck of a lot, there's people with a lot of offense, uh, of experience, not just Frank Wright, but Jim Caldwell, Josh mccown in the Panthers organization that collectively they make this decision and we'll look back on this, not just this season, but in years, 23 and four, while Young is on his rookie deal, if he's worth his salt and you talk and we've talked about this on previous episodes of this show, Lewis, you look at the gauntlet of all the AFC quarterbacks and Lamar is gonna be back with the Ravens. We find that out tonight, Aaron Rodgers getting traded to the Jets. There's a huge void in the NFC when it comes to and at the quarterback position, it's a great opportunity for the Panthers and that premium that you paid for the number one overall pick may end up being a bargain if Bryce Young pans out. Yes, absolutely. Um You know, I think that, uh, it, it's, it's so hard to tell like, ok, who, what, who's gonna be and that, but that's the question we're all asking, right? Ok. Which one of these quarterbacks taken Anthony Richardson going to the Colts at four, which one of these quarterbacks taken, you know, is, is the real deal is the one that we're gonna look back on. Like, yeah, that's the guy first off, they could all be successful. Number one, you know, success flip, Lewis with when it comes to quarterbacks. If it was an exact science, I think there'd be a lot more quarter good quarterbacks in the NFL. Yeah, I, I, I think at this point, like I, I always look at, if someone has the mental tools to handle quarterback, the processing, um, the ability to read defenses, handling a lot on their plate, all that kind of stuff. Um And then if that, that is to me that sets a floor and that's where does the, where do the physical tools take them as well? Um You know, I think that both Bryce Young and CJ Stroud, I think they were both safe picks. I think that they make total sense. I, I totally understand why they go one and two. I think Anthony Richardson could end up being like the, the, you know, the steal of the draft for the Colts depending on if his, if his physical tools end up, you know, carrying over into the NFL if he continues to grow as a quarterback. Um, but I, I think ultimately, I, I, I, I really like this pick for the Panthers. I, I feel very good about Bryce Young for the Panthers. Uh, now, now it's all about Carolina doing what they can to build around him. Yeah, rookie quarterbacks, a lot of times, really talented ones will struggle, will fail because the team does not build around them so they need to continue to draft offensive linemen, protect him, help him learn to protect himself. But when it comes to coaching staff is co coaching staffs, I really don't think that there is a better staff for, for a rookie quarterback right now to walk into than what the Panthers have. Uh, you know, in Charlotte will be Frank Lewis. I wanna wrap here, I wanna ask you, I kind of outlined how I project Young going to the Panthers this season beyond what constitutes success, how is young successful with this pick? What would be a successful season in 2023 beyond with this pick tonight, it's, it's tough. I think it's tough to say in this season, right? Because I, I wanna look at what is there with all this stuff. Um I, if, if Bryce Young develops and if you feel like just purely from a quarterback perspective, if you feel like Bryce Young is a better quarterback at the end of the season than he was at the beginning, I think that is a success. Now, what does that look like? Team wise? I think if Bryce Young has a good, if Rush Young has a good season, I feel very confident that the Panthers are in contention to win the NFC South. If, if he is doing well, I think they are right there. Um And then big picture as a whole. If you get Bryce Young to his second contract because with the quarterback market, the way things work, you know, if you're giving a quarterback a second contract, then that means that he is your guy and you, you love him because you're gonna be paying him a boatload of money. Like we saw with Jalen and Lamar Jackson this week, Joe Burrow is gonna be making $60 million. Lewis, let's be honest here after this, Lamar, it's, it's so funny when you look at like the, the, the little ratchets of, you know, the quarterbacks just kind of getting more paid and more paid and more paid. It's like, like Lamar Jackson was like $5 million more guaranteed than Jalen Hurtz. And now it's gonna be like, ok, here comes Justin Herbert with five million more guaranteed. Now here's Joe Burrow with five million more guaranteed. It's the salary cap is just gonna be through the roof of these quarterbacks. I'll say one other thing, keep him upright, keep him healthy. And when he's scrambling, I know he's not necessarily a scrambling quarterback. Get out of bounds, teach him to slide. Let's get Bryce Young throughout the duration of the 2023 season healthy and on the field, it might not be fireworks and light the scoreboard right away. Stay patient, surround him with some talent, see what he can do if you get five bodyguards in front of him and they've got one in Iki Aqua at the left tackle position the sixth overall pick a year ago out of N C State. You four other guys up front and you're gonna be rolling here in no time, but you got to be patient. It's not going to be, be dynamic right away right away. But if you're a Panthers fan, you gotta be sitting pretty in a lot more confident than you were when you were sitting several weeks back with the number nine overall pick. You just have the first overall pick you. There's finally optimism and excitement really for the first time again since Cam Newton left, left town for the first time. Lewis. That's, that's where I'm at tonight. I agree. I think that's fair. That is gonna do it for us. Just a quick little instant reaction here on the Panthers picking number one. Thank you all so much for watching W R L Triangle and do find us wherever you listen to your podcast, find us on the 999, the fan youtube page. Find us on W R L sports fan dot com. Uh We'll see you on Monday with more reaction from the Panthers draft. Five more picks to go. We'll see you all later.