When news hit that the Carolina Panthers were benching Bryce Young as their starting quarterback, there were two general reactions from the fanbase of the NY Giants. The first one was, “the Panthers did it in the second season, but we are stuck with Year 6 of Daniel Jones.” The other was, “the Giants should try and trade for Bryce Young.”
It wasn’t just the Giants fans on social media manifesting this trade idea of the team getting Young. Plenty of analysts have linked the NFC East side already as a possible landing spot for the young signal-caller. If that wasn’t enough, Shaun Morash from WFAN in New York not only encouraged the idea of the Giants trading for Young, but he even came up with his own slogan for it:
What do you think @BrandonJacobs27 ? pic.twitter.com/Wz2Fk7qL1B
— Shaun Morash (@ShaunMorash) September 16, 2024
Would the NY Giants have interest in trading for Panthers QB Bryce Young?
So, what would be the trade the Giants could offer to the Panthers? These two sides are familiar with trade talks, as the G-Men acquired star pass-rusher Brian Burns in the offseason. This time around, here's what Joe Schoen can send Dan Morgan in exchange for Young:
- The Giants acquire: Bryce Young
- The Panthers acquire: 2026 fifth-round pick
We put this trade proposal into a voting format for Big Blue supporters to vote on. The majority of the votes were for trading for Young.
The Giants get: Bryce Young.
— Doug Rush (@TheDougRush) September 16, 2024
The Panthers get: 2026 5th round pick.
What do you say, Giants Twitter? #Giants100
There were quite a few people who were opposed to the idea of trading for Young, as he hasn’t had the best start to his NFL career. Young is 2-16 as a starter in the NFL and has more interceptions than he does touchdowns. Some have even said that he’s a worse quarterback than Daniel Jones, a former No. 6 overall pick.
With that said, why trade for Young if he hasn’t lived up to being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft? Salary wise, Young is an extremely affordable option for the Giants. Young is in the second year of his rookie contract and has a cap hit of $8.6 million in 2024, $10.3 million in 2025 and $12 million in 2026.
Even if the Giants were to make the decision to cut Jones in March, they could hang onto Young and still draft another quarterback in April. Those moves made would still cost less on the salary cap than having Jones on the cap for 2025 and 2026.
Aside from the money aspect, Young is still only 23 years old and hasn’t dealt with a rash of injuries in the league like Jones has. Plus, there’s the aspect of a former No. 1 pick getting a fresh start to play alongside a stud wide receiver like Malik Nabers and play in an offense led by Brian Daboll, as both Young and Daboll both have that Alabama connection, even though they weren’t at the college at the same time.
For now, the Giants are still committed to Jones. However, as each passing week goes by and wins don’t start coming in, the fanbase will continue to slowly turn on Jones, and they also might turn more on Daboll/Schoen and demand something to happen. A trade for Young could at least be somewhat of a move for the future and a sign of something to see after 2024.
The Giants and Panthers are also set to face off in Germany in Week 10. When the season started, most expected Young to be the starter under center for Carolina. It would be a wild notion to think of if Young was on the other sideline for the Giants if Schoen decided to make this trade with Carolina.
Similar to the Cowboys and 49ers making the deal to send Trey Lance to Dallas, if the Giants ever did make this trade, at worst, they would give up a Day 3 draft pick for a young quarterback, just like Dallas has done. With Andy Dalton taking over at QB, it's clear Young needs a fresh start somewhere else. Could that fresh start be in East Rutherford?