CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It had been nearly three years since David Tepper met with media members for a football topics-only scrum, dating to his firing of Frank Reich during the 2023 season.
So reporters had questions for the Carolina Panthers owner Wednesday, many of which involved quarterback Bryce Young. The night the Panthers drafted Young No. 1 overall in 2023, Tepper famously said he thought the Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama could bring multiple Super Bowls to the Carolinas.
He was asked Wednesday whether he still believes it.
"I think he has a lot of talent," Tepper said, "and with the right weapons and the right situation, yeah."
Young helped the Panthers break a seven-year playoff drought last season when the Panthers won the NFC South with an 8-9 record. The Panthers picked up Young's fifth-year option for 2027, worth an estimated $25.9 million.
But a day after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers locked up quarterback Baker Mayfield with a three-year deal worth $55 million annually, Tepper declined to say whether the team has offered Young a contract extension.
Asked what would convince the Panthers to offer Young an extension, Tepper said: "I'm not saying we have or we haven't. You should talk to (general manager) Dan (Morgan). Look, success is success and you know it when you see it."
Tepper took questions for 13 minutes prior to the Panthers' practice. Some of his thoughts on …
Whether Young can take another step forward:
"You saw it. He can and he has performed at a high level against high-level competition. It seems to bring the best out of him. Bryce is the sort of guy that doesn't feel the pressure. You saw that against the Rams twice. When you have that kind of performance, you know it's there. Can he bring it every single game? I believe he can. You know it's there. Like I said, I'm a believer and hopefully it comes true."
How he defines success:
"I've said it for a long time about the Carolina Panthers, and maybe it's in the water. So I won't say just one season, I'd like to have two winning seasons (for) the first time in this franchise history. So I'd like to win this year and I'd like to win next year. I'd like to string wins. In other sports that I own, we string wins. Winning seasons. This one we haven't. So I'd like to string winning seasons. That's success."
Dave Canales giving up offensive play calling:
"I think it frees Dave up to really look at everything that's happening during the game. What you hope is that we are faster in some of the things we should be doing, like making the adjustments. … If Dave's out there not with his head in the playbook, he can see what's going on and help make those adjustments sooner. Because that's the name of the game."
This year's outlook:
"Last year's team, I kinda said we're not a playoff team but we can get in the playoffs. I think we're more of a playoff team this year than we were last year coming into it. When you have winning seasons in the preseason, it kinda plays into your depth. So I think Dan's done a good job building the depth. I think the pieces are there and we have everything we need."
Handling external expectations:
"I know all the expectations you guys write about. I know what the odds are, that we have 7.5 wins (this) season. Those are the expectations, and the expectations are based on last year. So if we improve on some of those things (from) last year. For instance, we can't have all come-from-behind wins in the NFL. If we get fast starts this year, fast starts to games, we're gonna win."
On how Morgan has improved the depth:
"I think they've done a good job to try to bring in (players) to try to help us out. Fortunately, we have enough depth (along the offensive line) that we did have Rasheed (Walker) in here, which would have been a big problem with Taylor (Moton) having a (health) problem. And some of the other things that they're paying attention (to). We just brought (defensive tackle) TeRah (Edwards) in here. I saw him the other day. He said he's 6-2. He's 6-2 like I'm 6-4, so. But he's big and he gets underneath people and he's really hard to block. So he's kind of interesting. So I think these guys have generally done a good job filling the gaps."
Whether he's interested in bringing Major League Baseball to Charlotte:
"Talk to (Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom) Dundon in Raleigh. Charlotte? It's very political with baseball in this state. I think it may come to North Carolina. It'll be a harder job with that legislature to bring it here versus Raleigh, quite frankly. I mean, that's the truth. So, yeah, I'm watching it."
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
