The Read Optional:Was Bryce Young's leap for real?

[CPcavedweller]

3 hours ago, Icege said:

Always fun to see articles linked and immediately be able to tell who from the replies even bothered reading it.

The mention about going to more empty sets and why now makes Canales' tendency to go five wide after a 1st down run that went for a first down. I'd get frustrated seeing the run game work only to move away from it, but now that I know it was part of trying to rebuild his confidence and catering scheme to the players (I know folks aren't used to this, but Canales and Evero have both shown early on that they won't force their scheme if the players accel in other ways).

Moving away from heavier sets and giving Bryce more options takes advantage of his much praised processing ability. Giving Jonathon Mingo an extra 1.5sec in his route wasn't exactly going to get him any more open.

Now, after the recent SI video, it sounds like coach and QB have found a happy medium to the point of Bryce leading meetings to teach concepts (and let his teammates know his preferences and tendencies based on what he sees). There's still going to be growing pains, especially on the recently patched together defense, but there's finally some competence it seems in the locker room.

As long as we don’t go back to Frank Reich where we would throw out of shotgun and run from under center, almost exclusively, I’ll be perfectly fine. Run empty sets and make the reads easier for the QB’s. If we have the receiving core for it, go for it. 

[frankw]

2 hours ago, CPcavedweller said:

As long as we don’t go back to Frank Reich where we would throw out of shotgun and run from under center, almost exclusively, I’ll be perfectly fine. Run empty sets and make the reads easier for the QB’s. If we have the receiving core for it, go for it. 

Reich was terrible but we ran a shitload of plays from shotgun because Bryce was a rookie and nearly all of his snaps in college were from the shotgun. He had very few traditional under center snaps. This was discussed extensively before drafting him. I feel like it's unfair to pin that solely on coaching.

[Icege]

3 hours ago, CPcavedweller said:

As long as we don’t go back to Frank Reich where we would throw out of shotgun and run from under center, almost exclusively, I’ll be perfectly fine. Run empty sets and make the reads easier for the QB’s. If we have the receiving core for it, go for it. 

I think that's why they've made it a point to have a deeper WR room this season. Having different weapons and scheming them open to their strengths is only going to make the offense better.

[Jmac]

Getting shredded.

[CPcavedweller]

On 8/15/2025 at 3:39 PM, Tr3ach said:

It was above average.  Statistically you could say it was average, but when it comes to qbr under pressure, big time throws, big time throws under pressure, etc he was top 5.  They werent really calling games to try to get him to put up huge passing numbers last season.  Im not saying he was great the second half of last season, but he was definitely well above average.

My question is what could someone with more physical ability do given the same set of parameters?

Canales has shown he can revive careers. I wonder what he could do with someone like, say, Jaxson Dart, Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward, etc. Players with traditional measurables with adequate athleticism and fundamentals. Someone you don’t have to re-design the wheel for. 
 

I think he has the potential to be a great coach. 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 minute ago, CPcavedweller said:

My question is what could someone with more physical ability do given the same set of parameters?

Canales has shown he can revive careers. I wonder what he could do with someone like, say, Jaxson Dart, Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward, etc. Players with traditional measurables with adequate athleticism and fundamentals. Someone you don’t have to re-design the wheel for. 
 

I think he has the potential to be a great coach. 

I doubt he'll get a chance with a different QB. Tepper has one helluva itchy trigger finger with HCs. If we decide it's time to move on from Bryce he'll probably decide it's time to move on from Canales too.

[Tr3ach]

14 minutes ago, CPcavedweller said:

My question is what could someone with more physical ability do given the same set of parameters?

Canales has shown he can revive careers. I wonder what he could do with someone like, say, Jaxson Dart, Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward, etc. Players with traditional measurables with adequate athleticism and fundamentals. Someone you don’t have to re-design the wheel for. 
 

I think he has the potential to be a great coach. 

I think if Bryce isn't a fringe top 10 qb this season and we have an early pick again next draft they will definitely give a hard look at qb.  Canales clearly isn't dead set on Bryce after benching him after 2 games last season and only bringing him back in after the Dalton injury.  I still have my conspiracy theories about LaNorris Sellers.

Edited August 17, 2025 by Tr3ach

[countryboi]

This is a put up or shut up year for Bryce because you need to know if you are going to pay him or naw.

[CPcavedweller]

18 hours ago, Tr3ach said:

I think if Bryce isn't a fringe top 10 qb this season and we have an early pick again next draft they will definitely give a hard look at qb.  Canales clearly isn't dead set on Bryce after benching him after 2 games last season and only bringing him back in after the Dalton injury.  I still have my conspiracy theories about LaNorris Sellers.

I like Sellers but Richardson is giving me some pause on that. May watch Sellers more this year to see if he is reading coverage or just shooting from the hip. 
 

I’d also like to find some of the more experienced college QB’s coming out that may have a lot of question marks. As of late, those are the guys. One of those was Bo Nix, who I was on record saying we should have considered drafting. The other is now Jaxson Dart. 

[Tr3ach]

14 minutes ago, CPcavedweller said:

I like Sellers but Richardson is giving me some pause on that. May watch Sellers more this year to see if he is reading coverage or just shooting from the hip. 
 

I’d also like to find some of the more experienced college QB’s coming out that may have a lot of question marks. As of late, those are the guys. One of those was Bo Nix, who I was on record saying we should have considered drafting. The other is now Jaxson Dart. 

Yea there are some differences though.   Sellers was named a captain as a freshman and was sec academic honors every semesters.  After this season he will have a lot more experience as well.  I dont know that hes worth an early pick just yet but he definitely has the potential.   My conspiracy theory about us being into him is mostly based on the fact that we had like 16 south carolina guys in for visits in the pre draft and I dont think we drafted a single one.  I feel like they were doing some early digging on Sellers potentially. 

[45catfan]

The League has good tape on the second half of Bryce's season last year.  I think defenses will adjust.