Panthers owner Tepper talks Bryce Young, team progress in rare media appearance
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Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper answered questions from Charlotte-area media Wednesday before practice, opining on Bryce Young, the team’s overall progress and Charlotte’s likelihood of getting a major league baseball team.
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Tepper said “We’re more of a playoff team this year” than the Panthers were a year ago — even though Carolina made the playoffs last season at 8-9 — adding that the current team had “a lot more depth.”
In a 12-minute news conference, Tepper also said he remained optimistic about his 2023 draft-night prediction that quarterback Bryce Young could lead the Panthers to multiple Super Bowls.
“I think he has a lot of talent,” Tepper said of Young and his prediction. “And with the right weapons in the right situation, yeah. He exhibited (high-level play) last year sometimes and I think he’ll exhibit more. We’ll see how the health of the offensive line is and, if he has time, he’ll do it.”
Tepper deflected a couple of questions about a potential new contract extension for Young. Entering his fourth season, Young has yet to lead the Panthers to a winning record. He is under contract through 2027.
“Look, success is success, and you know it when you see it,” Tepper said.
For the Panthers owner, success would look like not one winning season in a row, but two. Carolina has yet to have any since Tepper bought the team in 2018.
“I’d like to have two winning seasons for the first time in this franchise’s history,” Tepper said. “So I’d like to win this year, and I’d like to win next year. I’d like to string wins. You know, in other sports that we own (the Charlotte FC MLS team), we string wins…. This one hasn’t. But I’d like to see us string winning seasons. That’s success.”
Tepper’s comments Wednesday were notable in part because of their rarity.
This was the first time the owner of both the Panthers and its Major League Soccer sibling, Charlotte FC, had had a full-on press conference with Charlotte-area media on the record for nearly three years. The last time had been Nov. 28, 2023, when Tepper held a 14-minute press conference after firing head coach Frank Reich once the Panthers got off to a 1-10 start that year.
Since then, Tepper has appeared at various charity events in Charlotte and taken a few questions here and there, although many of those were about the charitable event in question. He also held a “fireside chat” with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in July in Charlotte but did not take questions from the local media.
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Tepper was also on Pat McAfee’s ESPN show in February, where he finally explained his tossing-a-drink-at-a-fan incident in Jacksonville on Dec. 31, 2023, by saying it was the byproduct of an unruly Jacksonville fan yelling to him to “get your frickin’ player off the field!” after a Carolina player had been hurt late in the Panthers’ 26-0 loss. The NFL fined Tepper $300,000 for that incident.
But while Tepper met with the media several times early in his ownership tenure — he bought the Panthers in 2018 — the local media hasn’t been able to ask Tepper questions in a substantial way for years. NFL owners are under no mandate to speak to make themselves available to the media via press conference, unlike head coaches and general managers. Jerry Richardson, the Panthers’ founder and original owner, once went nine years between press conferences.
At the press conference following Dave Canales’ hiring in early 2024, Tepper had proclaimed “I’m in the background now” and had deferred all questions to general manager Dan Morgan and Canales. He had remained largely true to that idea ever since, even while committing $500 million more to the ongoing Bank of America renovation project in July, until Wednesday.
Tepper also spoke about:
Charlotte’s major-league baseball chances. “It’s just very political with baseball, right?” he said. “… 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. I mean … I’m watching it.”
On the Panthers’ expectations nationally: “I can see what the odds are that we have 7 ½ wins this season. Those are the expectations, and the expectations are based on last year, right?
“So, if we improve on some of those things last year: For instance, we can’t have all come from behind wins in the NFL, and that’s one of the reasons. So, we get fast starts this year. (If we get) fast starts to games, we’re going to win.”
On Panthers head coach Dave Canales giving up playcalling: ”When Dave’s out there — not with his head in the playbook — he can see what’s going on and make those help make those adjustments sooner. Because that’s the name of the game here. You know, making those adjustments, realizing it, and making those adjustments.” The playcalling duties have been assumed by offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, a move that Tepper applauded.
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This story was originally published September 9, 2026 at 3:13 PM.
