Despite horrible outing, Bryce Young barely slips in The Athletic’s QB rankings

He finished strong this past season after a rocky start to his NFL career. The Carolina Panthers used the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft on University of Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. As is the case with most rookies, he took his lumps, especially considering he joined a franchise that entered ’23 having finished with a losing record five straight years.

Enter new head coach Dave Canales in 2024, who watched the young signal-caller struggle and sat him down after two games. He would return to start the Panthers’ final 10 contests, and looked like a different player. In those outings, he completed 61.8 percent of his throws for 2,104 yards and 15 scores. He also ran for 223 yards and five touchdowns. There were eight turnovers, but zero in the club’s final three outings. Progress had indeed been made.

Panthers’ QB Bryce Young drops only slightly in the QB rankings

Unfortunately, that promising second-half showing a year ago was nowhere to be found last Sunday afternoon at Jacksonville. Young connected on only 18 of his 35 throws for 154 yards and one score. However, he was picked off twice and lost his only fumble of the game in Carolina’s 26-10 loss.

Entering the season, Jeff Howe of The Athletic put out his quarterback rankings (aka NFL QB Stock Report) and had Young at No. 21. Despite the awful showing, he knocked down the third-year pro just two spots to No. 23. That’s really not too bad of a demotion, however it’s still a downward move. It means that Young is now in the Bottom 10 of Howe’s QB rankings.

Of course, that could change in a blink of an eye if the young performer comes up big this Sunday on the road at Arizona.