Did Rams miss an opportunity to add perfect successor for Matthew Stafford?

Could a team have pried QB Bryce Young from Panthers?

Another team that felt a huge letdown by its young quarterback is the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers selected Alabama quarterback Bryce Young with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. So far, he has failed to live up to the status of being the first player chosen in the draft. And like many struggling young NFL players, he was benched in favor of a veteran.

Once again, a whirlwind of NFL rumors surrounded the Panthers and the likelihood of an imminent trade of Young to another NFL team. But this time, the LA Rams were named as a likely landing site. The drawback at the time? The Rams roster was shredded by early-season injuries. So the front office was too busy filling holes and balancing the team's salary cap to take advantage of another rare opportunity.

Did Bryce Young make sense for the Rams? Once again, he is a tarnished but top-tier quarterback prospect who simply failed to meet the lofty expectations of the team that drafted him. And it seemed that the right offer might be enough to persuade the Panthers to distance themselves from Young. What offer might have worked?

That's a tough call. We know that the Panthers wanted nothing to do with the Rams at the 2022 NFL Trade Deadline, rejecting lucrative offers for both RB Christian McCaffrey and DE/OLB Brian Burns. But this was a different scenario altogether. This was not about the Rams prying productive veterans from a team intending to rebuild. This time, a trade was about a young player who was simply not productive.

Once again, no trade happened.

Did the Rams fail to capitalize on rare opportunities to land a true successor to veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford in 2024? Or will Rams GM Les Snead pull a rabbit out of his hat, as he so often has done in the past?

You decide.

As always, thanks for reading.

More Rams News, Rumors, and Analysis