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If you’re a former No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, you’re usually going to be valuable to the franchise that drafts you. That is, unless you’re Bryce Young.

To be fair, Young has played like hot garbage any time he’s stepped on the field. After starting one game this season against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Panthers decided to bench him. Andy Dalton has stepped in since then and done a decent job, but Sunday he was horrible. In a 36-10 loss to the Chicago Bears, he was 18 for 28, 136 yards and one touchdown. 

So with the game all but over, Panthers head coach Dave Canales decided to put Young in during garbage time. But his reason for doing so was super confusing.

“We had a couple of injuries to the offensive line…wanted to get (Young) in there to get some live reps. At that point, I wanted to get Andy out of there and give Bryce a chance,” Canales said.

Now look, I’m not going to sit here and say Young was given the short end of the stick by playing meaningless minutes in a blowout loss, he has played terribly this year. And after losing both their center and right tackle to injury in the game, it would make sense to protect the guy you think will be your starter.

But even so, Canales is talking about Young like he’s some journeyman backup they picked up off waivers, not the former No. 1 pick.

That should be a wake-up call to Young. I don’t know where he goes from here, if he tries to get a new change of scenery or just tries his hardest to improve in North Carolina. But at the very least, he knows how Canales views him – and it’s not great.