After the Carolina Panthers’ first full-team practice of training camp on Wednesday, Frank Reich answered the $37.955 million question: Is Bryce Young ready to be the NFL team’s No. 1 quarterback?

“Yes, he’s QB 1,” Reich said. “He is QB 1.”

The former Alabama All-American joined the Panthers as the first pick in the NFL Draft on April 27. Last week, he signed a four-year, $37.955 million, fully guaranteed contract that included a $24.604 million signing bonus as he reported for Carolina’s training camp at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

“Bryce will fool you now because he’s got this quiet demeanor,” Reich said. “But I like the way (Panthers general manager) Scott (Fitterer) said it: ‘This is a grown man. This is a stinking grown man.’ He’s in control. He knows what he wants and how he wants it done, and I think that’s a good place to start from. …

“The humility factor, too – we look for that in all our players. It’s huge. Most players got the confidence thing down, right? So we’re looking for players who got that humility because that gives you the growth mindset that we’re looking for to keep getting better.”

Before drafting Young, Carolina signed veteran NFL starter Andy Dalton in free agency as a mentor and insurance policy for whichever quarterback the Panthers picked at No. 1 in the draft. But Young showed the Carolina coaching staff that he could handle the top spot during the Panthers’ offseason program.

“That means a lot,” Young said after Wednesday’s practice about Reich’s No. 1 proclamation. “That’s a huge blessing. I always trust the coaches, and I want to play whatever role it is I’m called on to help the team. That means a lot. For me, it doesn’t change my approach. Make sure that I take things day-by-day. There’s a lot that I want to keep growing in, keep improving in.”

Reich said he was not surprised to start training camp with Young on course to start the Panthers’ season-opening game on Sept. 10 against the Atlanta Falcons.

“Scott and I and the coaching staff and (team owner) Mr. (David) Tepper, when we decided to pick Bryce, we imagined and saw the vision that we’d be standing here today saying, ‘He’s QB 1,’” Reich said.

With that decided, Reich said Young would not have to look over his shoulder if there are bumps in the road. Those are expected with a rookie quarterback, Reich said.

“Patience is good, period,” Reich said. “And this is really hard to do. It’s hard to do as a coach, it’s hard to do as a player, it’s hard to do as media and just fans. We want to keep our expectations on the process and not try to make too much of any one play or any one game, and so I just think that’s wisdom, that’s good coaching, that’s good playing.

“When we have a bad play, nobody’s going to panic, and Bryce knows he’s going to feel that from our staff. That’s already been said: ‘Hey, you’re the guy. Let’s go.’ There’s going to be some ups and downs, but nobody’s going to try to predict how it’s going to play out the first year. You just don’t know. As coaches and players, we’re going to make every attempt to avoid doing that.”

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.