Panthers See QB Bryce Young As ‘Ascending Player’ But Not Making Any Second Contract Promises

This upcoming season will be the third for the former No. 1 pick, and next offseason will be the first Young is eligible for a new contract. The Panthers will also have to decide whether they want to pick up Young’s fifth-year option, likely worth around $24 million, by next May. 

That makes this upcoming season just as important as last year for Young. Panthers EVP of football operations Brandt Tilis, who handles all of the team’s contracts, spoke with reporters at training camp on Wednesday and did not want to get too far ahead of things. 

“Bryce is an ascending player. So I don’t want to sit here and make any kind of promises, any kind of statements about what we’re thinking about for Bryce’s contract or anything like that,” Tilis said via the Athletic’s Joe Person. “And Bryce would probably be the first to tell you — Bryce needs to focus on football and being the best version of himself, and the contract stuff will get figured out.”

The team has said a lot of positive things about Young this offseason, and perhaps more importantly they worked hard to build up the team around him, adding first-round WR Tetairoa McMillan in the draft and fortifying the defense in free agency. 

Young, 23, was a two-year starter at Alabama and won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore in 2021. The Panthers drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.

He signed a four-year, $37,955,074 contract that included a $24.6 million signing bonus. The deal includes a fifth-year option for the 2027 season. 

In 2024, Young appeared in 14 games for the Panthers, making 12 starts and completing 60.9 percent of his passes for 2,403 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also rushed for 249 yards and six touchdowns.

We’ll have more on Young as the news is available.