Bryce Young: "I'm always going to look in the mirror" (2025)

CHARLOTTE — Bryce Young's first interview after losing the starting quarterback job here was like many other Bryce Young interviews.

Matter-of-fact, understated, expressing gratitude, and being accountable.

Young offered no real headlines in his first appearance since being benched in favor of Andy Dalton this week against the Raiders and said his own play was the reason he's not starting.

"There's a lot of plays that, for last year and these first two games, for the most part, every snap hit my hands and I didn't do enough with it at the end of the day," he said. "I take accountability for that. There's plays, there's stuff, there's a long list of things that I wish I was better at and I'm going to continue to work to grow and improve on and be better at.

"I'm always going to look in the mirror. Circumstances are what they are for, not just me, but for everyone. Everyone's dealing with something, everyone has circumstances. If I went out there and played better and we won games, at the end of the day that falls on me. That didn't happen and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

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Young was asked a number of versions of questions about his future, and deferred on all of them.

He said his goal now is to be the best backup to Dalton he can be.

"I love Andy," he said. "We're super-close and I love to see a lot of my teammates. So, it's not hard to root for them, to try to do everything I can to help, to play my role, to try to just be around, to help in whatever way I can."

Young was asked if his confidence was shaken after the 0-2 start, which followed a rookie season which was as difficult as could be imagined. He was sacked 62 times in 16 games, tying a franchise record and marking the sixth-highest total in league history. But even after an offseason spent adding protection and weapons, the production never arrived this season, with just 204 passing yards and 13 points in two games.

"I draw my confidence from the Lord and He's never forsaken me, never will," Young replied. "At the end of the day, I take accountability for, for myself and my actions for how things have gone. At the end of the day, as the quarterback and as a leader, it all falls on my shoulders.

"And I have to take that in stride and do what I can now to try to grow and improve."

He also did not offer any sensational sound bites when asked about his future, despite plenty of speculation in the national media.

"Really, right now I'm a day-by-day type of person," he said. "I've talked about that kind of consistently. Big picture stuff that's, that's out of my hands. That's in God's hands. Organizational stuff that's with, with the people upstairs.

"I'm super grateful to be a part of the team, be a part of the organization. I want to help the team whatever way I can and that's my focus."

That was the theme of practically every answer during the nine minutes he spent talking to reporters.

"It's not something that I was necessarily expecting," he said when asked his reaction to head coach Dave Canales' decision Monday. "It's obviously not something that was great to hear, but I respect coach, our organization. Obviously they made the decision and it's on me to put them in that situation.

"Right now that's the situation that it is."