You were probably all set to stick every Carolina Panther on the bench in fantasy football until further notice with 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young continuing to flounder under center.
Well, now you have good news if you have any fantasy-relevant Panthers: as we learned on Monday, the Panthers shocked everyone by benching Young and putting backup QB Andy Dalton in. How long that’ll last? Who knows? It’s a disaster from a real-world football point of view.
From a fantasy football angle? It can only get better, right? Let’s review some of the names affected by this sudden move ahead of Week 3:
He’s certainly no longer the QB he once was with the Bengals, having taken a tour around the NFL since 2020 with the Cowboys, Bears, Saints and now the Panthers. But he did throw 18 touchdowns in 2022 and has some decent weapons around him. He’s not fantasy relevant, but others are.
Diontae Johnson
He’s seen 12 targets and caught … five of them. Yikes. Tells you all you need to know, doesn’t it? I could see Dalton peppering him, which is good news for PPR league managers with him on the team. Keep him on your bench until we see the usage and then we might see WR3 type production, potentially.
Adam Thielen
He’s the same guy who had 103 catches (!!) last year, but with Johnson and other wideouts on the roster, that’s not happening again. I’m not seeing a renaissance, so keep him on the waiver wire.
Xavier Legette
He was a first-round pick out of South Carolina, so I’m keeping an eye on what he can do with a new QB. Don’t pick him up yet, but throw him on the watch list. don’t forget that Jonathan Mingo is still there.
Chuba Hubbard
Still very much FLEX relevant, maybe things open up for him more.
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