After Alabama quarterback Bryce Young measured a shade over 5-foot-10 at the NFL Scouting Combine, it send up a red flag. That’s a little short for an NFL quarterback, especially one associated with Frank Reich, the coach of the Carolina Panthers.

During Reich’s 12 seasons as an NFL quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator and head coach, the leading passers on his teams have been Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett and Matt Ryan. The shortest of those quarterbacks stood 6-foot-4.

But when the Panthers made the first choice in the 88th NFL Draft on Thursday night, Carolina chose Young.

“There wasn’t much convincing,” Reich said. “You just watch the tape. There was a lot said about the size. At the end of the day, there’s a lot of factors that go into it. But we’re coaches, we’re scouts, we watched the tape. And when you watched the tape, Bryce Young’s the best player.”

The Panthers obtained the No. 1 pick in a trade with the Chicago Bears, giving up the No. 9 and No. 61 choices in this year’s draft, a 2024 first-round selection, a 2025 second-round pick and wide receiver DJ Moore to move into position to get a face-of-the-franchise quarterback.

Carolina started with a list of four quarterbacks, with Young joining Kentucky’s Will Levis, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.

“Throughout the process, he checked every box that we had,” Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer said of Young. “We talked to him, we tested him, we had dinner with him, and just every time we met with him we felt more and more convicted. And we liked all the guys, but Bryce was the guy we really felt strongly about.”

But Carolina didn’t let Young know that. The Alabama QB learned he was the No. 1 pick when Panthers owner David Tepper called him just before the selection was announced in Kansas City, Missouri.

“I knew when I saw that Charlotte area code on my phone after the commissioner had announced that the Panthers were on the clock,” Young said of how he learned he was going to be the first pick. “I always knew that God would guide me to the right place and where I ended up was where I was supposed to be. I didn’t know where I was going to be. I didn’t have any confirmation. I didn’t look too deeply into it, and I’m super grateful things played out the way they did.”

In 2021, Young won the Heisman Trophy as he completed 366-of-547 passes for 4,872 yards with 47 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He played three fewer games in 2022, when he completed 245-of-380 passes for 3,328 yards with 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for Alabama.

“He makes all the plays,” Reich said. “Every kind of play you want to see a quarterback make — situationally, in the big moments, he makes the little throws, the big moments, the big throws, so they’re all over the tape.”

Last season, when the Panthers posted a 7-10 record, three quarterbacks started games. Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold started six apiece and P.J. Walker started five. They aren’t with the team this year.

Carolina signed 12-year veteran Andy Dalton in free agency this offseason and has former Ole Miss standout Matt Corral returning from a foot injury that caused him to miss his rookie season. The Panthers picked Corral in the third round last year.

Reich said Young will enter the offseason program as the No. 2 quarterback “and progress from there.”

“Right now, he’ll come in and he’ll have to earn it,” Reich said. “Obviously, that’s the way it should be. We’ll know when the right time is. He’s got enough going on right now. I just want him to come in and learn the offense.”

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