Panthers’ Bryce Young ‘ain’t no talker.’ Is that OK if you want to be a great NFL QB?

Panthers quarterback Bryce Young followed head coach Dave Canales and linebacker Shaq Thompson to the podium Wednesday for Carolina’s final press conference of minicamp. As always, when Young took his turn, I leaned forward and pushed my tape recorder closer.

Canales projects his voice and sounds at all times like he’s carrying an invisible megaphone. Thompson was in a good mood — recently married, finally healthy — and loud.

Young? He was soft-spoken. He’s always soft-spoken. And when he does speak, it’s with the calm, pleasant voice of a hypnotist. He’s repetitive like a hypnotist, too. He used the word “super” 12 times in a 12-minute news conference Wednesday.

Young has been a star everywhere he’s been except in the NFL. He may still be. I hope he will be, because he’s a nice fellow and I’m as tired of covering 2-15 teams as you are of watching them.

But Young is not a yeller and never has been. This was noticed early on by veteran defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney, who’s only been with the Panthers since March but has made a fine living in the NFL for the past 10 years. Like Young, Clowney is a former No. 1 overall draft pick and has played with or against dozens of NFL quarterbacks.

Clowney was asked about Young Tuesday and responded with an honest quote. I didn’t think there was a bit of malice behind it, but since this is a very slow time of year in the NFL, it was seized upon by social media and drew hundreds of thousands of views.

Said Clowney of Young: “Bryce? Quiet guy. I know he’s just trying to feel it out, you know. When you’re a rookie, you don’t want to step up…. Everybody buys into their quarterback, the play of his quarterback. They carry the team. So we need Bryce (to have) energy. Like I tell everybody, it’s all about his energy…. Get your guys (to) buy in and get on board with that. You’re gonna lead us.”

Is Young making progress in that, Clowney was asked?

“Yeah I think he’s gonna be OK,” Clowney said. “He’s making plays…. He just ain’t no talker. I played with Deshaun Watson, who wasn’t no talker either, but he could play.”

Once upon a time, of course, the Panthers tried to lure that other quiet QB in Watson to Charlotte, which was a bad idea and fortunately didn’t work out. Now they have tethered their future to Young, who went 2-14 as a starter as a rookie, threw only 11 touchdown passes, got sacked a ridiculous 62 times and directed the NFL’s worst offense.

Year Two is supposed to be better. Year Two better be better, or Panthers owner David Tepper will be handing out pink slips at the holidays once again.

Clowney isn’t in the offensive huddle. He’s not hearing Young speak regularly in the same way that wide receivers like Diontae Johnson and David Moore (both of whom characterized Young as very verbal this week) would.

But it’s also undeniable that Young is the anti-Cam Newton — and for that matter the anti-Jake Delhomme — in terms of decibel level and boisterousness. Both were loud, laughing presences in the locker room and deeply involved in much of its horseplay.

Young?

He smiles at all of that stuff, and he’s got a quick smile and a good sense of humor when he wants to display it. His personality is a little bit like former Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers, and that didn’t hurt Peppers a bit. He’s going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in July, on his first attempt.

But Clowney — although he hasn’t been around Young or the team that much — isn’t wrong. After covering Young for a little more than a year, Young strikes me as a gentle soul who badly wants to get better at his job. He would also prefer very much not to get in anyone’s face while doing so.

Is this wrong?

Can a quarterback lead quietly?

Of course he can. But it’s a tad harder, in my experience. A quarterback must be loud at times, just like a point guard has to be. Those positions demand it.

I asked Young about his leadership style Wednesday and whether he thought it would change in his second season. As always, his answer was thoughtful, and I bent in a bit to hear it.

“I want to do whatever is best for the team,” Young said. “I’m going to be true and authentic to who I am, and I’m not going to be someone that I’m not…. (I’m not going to say) this is a speech I practiced in the mirror, so it has to be said. I think it’s my responsibility to fill in the gaps, to make sure if we’re in a spot where the energy’s low, my responsibility is to bring it up. If it’s where it’s too high, it’s my responsibility to make sure we’re focused and locked in.”

That’s the sort of nuanced answer not many 22-year-olds could give, but Young has always been unique. And I believe he does understand how to lead. He did so at Alabama. Off the field, he just began a charitable foundation that focuses on the mental health of children, and I have no doubt it will be a success. And he can let some frustration out in a public way to his teammates and did so a couple of times last year, most notably after a loss to Chicago.

But he could do more.

Now all of this can be fixed by the same elixir that would fix so much at Bank of America Stadium — winning. Now-departed tight end Hayden Hurst said after the Panthers went 2-15 in 2023 that Young had “too many voices” in his ear a year ago.

That has changed. For now. Canales’ enthusiasm seems to have been good for Young, but you never really can tell until the games start.

In the meantime, though, I do think Young needs to dial it up a little, both on and off the field. He’s not a rookie anymore. He’s the man.

Time to turn up the volume. No need to be a yeller. That would feel fake.

But Young must become what the Panthers need — a true leader who brooks no nonsense, never has to repeat himself and, above all, wins games.