Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales is making it pretty obvious that he doesn't trust quarterback Bryce Young.

The Carolina Panthers' offense was supposed to be better this season. Bryce Young looked much improved down the stretch last year, and the Panthers added some pieces to bolster the talent around the third-year quarterback during the offseason.

Unfortunately, things have not panned out for Carolina's offense thus far in 2025, as the unit ranks 24th in the NFL.

While a number of things have gone wrong, Young's lack of progression is at the center of the Panthers' offensive issues, and head coach Dave Canales has made it abundantly clear that he does not quite trust his siganl-caller.

“We want to find opportunities to be a tough, physical football team. When we’re in second-and-short, that’s an opportunity to run the ball. Get us a new set of downs,” Canales said, via Joseph Person of The Athletic.

Second-and-short has long been viewed as an opportunity to take a shot downfield, but Carolina has not been doing that this season.

“Does that (second-and-short situation) present some explosive opportunities? Absolutely. But that’s my philosophy," Canales added. "It’s kind of been my DNA, going back to being with coach [Pete] Carroll for all these years. When we get into that mode, we want to be able to be tough. We want to be able to run downhill. We want to be able to do those things so we can get a new set of downs and then open up the attack again.”

It's true that Canales does come from the Carroll coaching tree, but you get the feeling that if Canales had a quarterback in whom he actually believed, he wouldn't be constantly handing the ball off to Chuba Hubbard in those situations.

And to be perfectly fair, it's hard to blame Canales for not having that much faith in Young, who is once again struggling. The former No. 1 overall pick has thrown for 753 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 60.4 percent of his passes and posting a 77.1 passer rating through four games this season, finishing with under 200 passing yards in three of them.

The Panthers are 1-3 and will face a very beatable Miami Dolphins club on Sunday, so perhaps Canales will allow Young to take more chances here in Week 5.