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A guarantee can be a tricky thing.
It’s been a solid offseason for a team that hasn’t seen the playoffs since 2017. The Carolina Panthers hit their share of home runs during free agency and that draft. They also have a young signal-caller that appears to be headed upwards.
NFL.com’s Marc Ross picked out seven players who will improve in 2025, and referred to them as “guaranteed risers.” On the list is Panthers’ starting quarterback Bryce Young, who went out with a bang this past season.
“Young took tremendous strides in 2024,” said Ross, “after returning to the starting lineup in Week 8 following his benching. He looked far more comfortable in his return and produced with consistency, as he threw for 2,104 yards, with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions in the final 10 contests. Most important perhaps is Young’s confidence grew immensely down the stretch, leading Carolina to either a game-tying or game-winning drive in six of those games.
“Now he enters his second season in Dave Canales’s system with his best supporting cast to date,” added Ross. “The Panthers drafted wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan eighth overall to pair with Adam Thielen and Xavier Legette, who I also believe is poised for a breakout campaign this fall. The 18th-ranked rushing attack from a year ago added Rico Dowdle to complement Chuba Hubbard, giving the team a pair of 1,000-yard rushers.”
“The Panthers have taken the necessary steps to ensure Young’s third season will be the best of his career,” stated Ross, “and now it’s up to him to not only continue to grow as a player but prove why he was worthy of being taken No. 1 overall in 2023. I believe that’s what he will do.”
Ross brings up some great points, and that’s all well and good. However, is a 10-game sample enough to ensure that the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner had indeed turned the corner? When you look at the first 18 games of his career (16 of those without Canales), Young threw for 11 scores and was picked off 13 times. He was sacked a combined 68 times and lost six of his 11 fumbles.
Has the two-year pro really come that far in such a short time? It looms as the biggest question for a franchise in the midst of a seven-year run where the team has finished with a losing season.
More must-reads:
- Dolphins OLBs coach Ryan Crow arrested on domestic battery charge
- Micah Parsons trade winners, losers: Packers fleece Cowboys for All-Pro
- The 'Most 1,000-rushing yard NFL seasons' quiz
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Micah Parsons had incredible reaction to Packers trade
The Green Bay Packers’ blockbuster trade to acquire Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys altered the landscape of the NFL, and raised the expectations in Titletown for 2025 and beyond. Parsons immediately bolsters the Packers’ pass rush and, opposite Rashan Gary, has the potential to be a true difference-maker on a roster built to make a deep playoff run. Micah Parsons fired up after Packers trade While those inside the league both resoundingly praised general manager Brian Gutekunst and the Packers while lampooning Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Parsons’ reaction of pure joy may have been best of all. Parsons has plenty of reason to celebrate between the change of scenery and the fact that he’ll collect $188 million with $120 million fully guaranteed on his new contract with the Packers. The All-Pro will also get the chance to exact some revenge on Jones and his former team when the Packers take on the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football in Week 4.
Jelena Ostapenko responds to racism allegations after post-match confrontation with Taylor Townsend
A heated post-match exchange between former World No. 5 Jelena Ostapenko and Taylor Townsend marred an otherwise action-filled fourth day of the U.S. Open on Wednesday. After Townsend defeated the 2017 French Open champion in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1, Ostapenko accused her opponent of unsportsmanlike conduct, pointing out that the American didn't apologize when a net cord helped her win a crucial point earlier in the match. The Latvian wrote on social media that Townsend "was very disrespectful" and didn't show the proper etiquette expected of a pro tennis player. "If she plays in her homeland, it doesn’t mean that she can behave and do whatever she wants," she wrote in a scathing address of Townsend. Townsend offered more details on their post-match confrontation, which led to some suggesting she was racially targeted. "She told me I have no class and no education, and to see what happens if we play each other outside the U.S.," Townsend revealed. Townsend refused to call Ostapenko a racist. "I didn't take it in that way," she said, via BBC. "But also that has been a stigma in our community of being not educated, and all of the things, when it's the furthest thing from the truth. Whether it had racial undertones or not, that's something she can speak on." Ostapenko was widely lambasted on social media, with even World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka asking her to control her emotions. The under-attack Latvian responded to allegations of her being a racist, while reaffirming her stance on Townsend disrespecting her during the match. "I was never racist in my life and I respect all nations of people in the world, for me it doesn't matter where you come from," she wrote on social media. Townsend will next face Russian teenage prodigy Mirra Andreeva in the third round. The World No. 46 American is trying to reach the fourth round of her home major for the first time since 2019.
Dolphins OLBs coach Ryan Crow arrested on domestic battery charge
Dolphins outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow was arrested early Friday morning on a domestic battery charge, as noted by NFL Network’s Cameron Wolfe. The arrest by Fort Lauderdale police has led to a stay in Broward County, FL.’s main jail without bond, ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques adds. An on-scene investigation by police shortly after midnight led to the arrest on a misdemeanor battery charge. According to Louis-Jacques, the alleged victim was not seriously injured and declined attention. “We are aware of the serious matter involving Ryan Crow and currently gathering more information,” a Dolphins statement reads. “Ryan has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately. We have been in communication with the NFL and will reserve further comment at this time.” Crow began his pro coaching career in 2018 with the Titans. He served as a defensive assistant for two years in Tennessee before a single season as a special teams assistant. From 2021-23, he worked as the Titans’ outside linebackers coach. The 37-year-old joined Miami’s staff last offseason in the same role. The likes of Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips and Chop Robinson are set to handle key roles along the edge in 2025. The Dolphins may enter the campaign shorthanded on the sidelines based on the outcome of this case, however. Miami does not have a designated assistant outside linebackers coach, so it is unclear who would take over from Crow in the event he were to miss game time as a result of this alleged incident.
Micah Parsons Can Put Packers Over the Top
If there is one clear takeaway from the Packers‘ blockbuster trade to acquire Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys, it is that Green Bay believes the All-Pro edge rusher is the missing piece. This is a roster built around a 26-year-old ascending quarterback who just over the course of two offseasons has added former rushing champion Josh Jacobs at running back and a potentially elite rookie wide receiver in Matthew Golden to his supporting cast. Signing Xavier McKinney helped turn the safety into an All-Pro in 2024, and sparked a renaissance in coordinator Jeff Hafley’s first season calling the Packers’ defense, but nothing moves the needle or raises the ceiling for Green Bay quite like dropping Parsons into the front seven. How Micah Parsons Elevates Packers’ Defense Packers head coach Matt LaFleur previously lamented not having an edge rusher disruptive enough to create the kind of havoc necessary to take the next step. “We’ve done a better job just with a lot of our games up front, just being a little bit tighter, not allowing loose pockets where a quarterback can get loose and carve you up with his legs,” LaFleur said recently, via ESPN. “Condensing the pocket, there’s nothing that quarterbacks hate more. It’s not comfortable for them when that pocket starts to get engulfed around them, and I think our guys have done a really nice job of understanding just how to keep that rush lane integrity.” Parsons, opposite Rashan Gary, and with ascending star Edgerrin Cooper at linebacker has the potential to be transformative for the Packers’ defense. Just how transformative? ESPN Stats and Information points out that the Packers finished 22nd in pressuring the quarterback last season, and according to Pro Football Focus, Parsons logged 70 total pressures, fifth-most in the NFL. “I’d expect the Packers to use Micah the same way Dallas did,” an NFL scout told me shortly after the trade. “But, Jeff Hafley may use him in space, too. He’s mainly going to be a pass rusher there.” If Parsons is as advertised, and the rest of the young talent around him on Green Bay’s defense continues to make strides, the Packers are going to be among the more complete teams and tougher outs in the NFL.
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