CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bryce Young was a little surprised when head coach Dave Canales called to inform him that offensive coordinator Brad Idzik would be taking over play-calling duties after the Carolina Panthers took a big step in 2025 and won the NFC South.
He knew how much Canales loved calling plays.
Click to Gallery
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) looks on before an NFL wild-card playoff football game between the Carolina Panthers and the Los Angeles Rams, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) scrambles to his left to avoid Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Poona Ford (95) during an NFL wild card playoff football game, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Brian Westerholt, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young celebrates after scoring against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL football game Jan. 5, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young calls a play during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones, File)
But after speaking with Canales, the Panthers quarterback is embracing the change, saying that he’s thrilled about what Idzik — whom he described as having a “great offensive mind” — brings to the table.
Idzik plans to experiment with a variety of different plays during the team’s upcoming OTAs in an effort to best utilize each player’s skill set.
“I appreciate his willingness to put us in the best situation,” Young said. “It’s not this blanket ‘we’re gonna do X, Y, Z’ or ‘we’re gonna do this X amount of times every game’ or ‘we’re gonna run this concept X amount of times.’ We want to try a bunch of different things during OTAs. He wants to challenge us with some new things.
Young added, “So, we (as players) want to show him what we’re good at, and then as we find that out, it’s him being able to find different ways for us to get to that in the game. So I’m excited for that process.”
The fourth-year quarterback said players need to do their part by developing a “mastery of the offense.”
That means a deep dive into the playbook, thoroughly understanding all of its unique variations and concepts.
The hope is that will result in a more seemless approach, helping Young get in and out of the huddle faster and avoid delay of game penalties and unnecessary timeouts — an frustrating issue that has plagued the Panthers offense at times over the past two seasons.
“We want coaches to put more on our shoulders on the field because they trust us,” Young said.
Young made huge strides in Year 3.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft had career highs in yards passing (3,011), touchdown passes (23) and quarterback rating (87.8). Despite the offense sputtering down the stretch in part because of injuries to the offensive line, the Panthers hung on to win the division before falling to the Los Angeles Rams 34-31 in the wild-card round on Matthew Stafford's late touchdown pass.
Knowing that 2025 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker will return as the team’s starting wide receiver tandem should be “huge” because it brings some stability, Young said.
“It’s so much easier in the offseason when you have a plan, when you have a view, when you’re able to be player-specific in the things that we scheme and game plan for and want to work on in the offseason,” Young said. “When we have those conversations, they don’t have to be hypotheticals, which is definitely a luxury to have.”
McMillan, who grew up in California and competed against Young in high school, said he knew Young was a winner when he arrived in Charlotte last year as the No. 8 overall draft pick.
So he wasn’t surprised when Young led six game-winning drives last season, giving him 12 for his career — more than any QB in the league since 2023.
“When the money’s on the line the thing that surprised me was just how calm and collected he was in those moments,” McMillan said.
Coming off the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2017, Young is brimming with confidence and eager for the season to arrive.
But he said the Panthers “can’t take our foot off the gas” as they look to repeat as division champs, make a deeper run in the playoffs and continue trending in the right direction.
He’s confident Canales won’t allow that to happen.
“I have all the faith in the world in Coach,” Young said. “If he feels like (handing off play-calling duties) is what’s best for the team, then I know it’s what’s best for the team. I trust him and his decision.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) looks on before an NFL wild-card playoff football game between the Carolina Panthers and the Los Angeles Rams, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) scrambles to his left to avoid Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Poona Ford (95) during an NFL wild card playoff football game, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Brian Westerholt, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young celebrates after scoring against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL football game Jan. 5, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young calls a play during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones, File)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights.
“if we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us,” Booker said.
The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”
“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going down to Jim Crow maps,” Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case said.
A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March. The stage, set in front of the Capitol, was flanked from behind by statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — dueling tributes erected nearly 90 years apart.
Speakers said the spot was once the temple of the confederacy and became holy ground of the civil rights movement.
Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.
“We lived through the “60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery, Alabama.
The rally began in Selma, where a violent clash between law enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. It then moved to the state Capitol, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech that same year.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.
Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.
“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”
Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama's 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.
But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.
Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people's opportunity to have representation.
“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what representation, what the faces of representation, look like, what the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.
Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.
“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”
Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said there is grief over the implosion of the Voting Rights Act but it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.
“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”
The State capitol is seen during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People gather during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Aaron McGuire sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
