Ryan Leaf Slams Panthers After Benching Bryce Young, Did 'Nothing' To Help QB

The Carolina Panthers have no one to blame but themselves for how things played out with Bryce Young ... so says former No. 2 overall pick Ryan Leaf, who tells TMZ Sports the entire organization is a complete mess -- and he's hoping the quarterback gets the hell outta town.

We caught up with Leaf shortly after the Panthers announced they would go with veteran signal-caller Andy Dalton under center in Week 3 ... and he thinks the former Alabama superstar was dealt a crappy hand with his first NFL home.

"They screwed this thing up from the get-go, though. I mean, this organization is horrible," Leaf said.

"This organization has done nothing to try to help and develop a player that has so much expectation on him. And so, I laid this at the feet of the organization completely."

Leaf can relate to what's going on with Young -- he said he was placed in a similar situation as a rookie ... and he said it's far from a good time. Of course, Leaf also faced massive expectations when entering the league ... but did not live up to the hype.

"He has zero confidence right now," Leaf explained. "No one believes in him and no one has his back. And I know what that feels like. You don't want to go into the office. You don't want to be around anybody. Football seems so toxic to you because you've always had that. You've always had success. And you've always been the guy that everybody loved to lift up and follow and everything like that."

"And right now, there's no one in that locker room that seemingly feels that way. And that is a hard place to be as a leader of men when you're 22, 23 years old."

If Young really lost the locker room, he at least has Leaf in his corner ... 'cause he says he still believes the QB can have a ton of success elsewhere -- just like Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold.