Bryce Young questions grow louder in brutal performance

Now three years into his NFL career, the excuses are running out for the former No. 1 overall pick, and the Panthers may be forced to ask some difficult questions about Young’s standing as the franchise quarterback.

Bryce Young’s draft pedigree can no longer overcome his play on the field 

Like most top overall picks, Young walked into a brutal situation as a rookie. Though the Panthers had finished with a tolerable 7-10 record in 2022, they had traded superstar rookie Christian McCaffrey at midseason and sent top wide receiver DJ Moore to the Chicago Bears to move up to the No. 1 pick. 

The result was a receiving corps led by a 33-year-old Adam Thielen and journeyman DJ Chark, while the defense finished 29th in the NFL in points per game. To top it off, new head coach Frank Reich proved to be a disastrous hire, and the Panthers fired him after just 11 games. Unsurprisingly, Young struggled mightily after being thrust right into the action, throwing 10 interceptions against just 11 touchdowns and completing less than 60% of his passes. 

To the Panthers' credit, they have steadily improved the situation around Young over the past two years. To replace Reich, they brought in renowned offensive guru Dave Canales, who had helped resurrect Baker Mayfield’s career in Tampa Bay. They used back-to-back first-round picks on wide receivers Xavier Legette and Tetairoa McMillan, the latter of whom was the first true pass-catcher off the board in the 2025 draft. The defense has jumped from 29th in 2023 to 11th this season, and Dowdle has headlined the league’s fourth-ranked rushing attack.

Yet even with all the help the Panthers have given him over the last two seasons, Young has shown little to no signs of improvement. His sophomore campaign started off so poorly that he was benched for Andy Dalton after just two games, and though a second-half resurgence sparked some hope of a 2025 breakout, Young has once again been one of the league’s worst quarterbacks this season. He has topped 200 passing yards in just one of his nine starts and ranks 38th in the NFL with a 79.7 passer rating. 

Given the draft capital the Panthers used to move up and ultimately select Young, it would make sense that they would give him every opportunity to fulfill his potential. Yet at a certain point, you have to accept what you are seeing on the field, and through 41 starts, Young looks far closer to a backup than a franchise quarterback.