After an all-time shaky start to the season, Bryce Young finished the 2024 campaign on a high note for the Carolina Panthers and appears to have solidied his position as their franchise quarterback. However, the story of Young's journey in the NFL isn't over just yet - in fact we're still working our way through the first few chapters.
To reiterate, Young looked brilliant as a passer for most of the second half of the season - the glaring bad game against the Dallas Cowboys being the one exception to the rule. Young bounced back from that ugly performance and did not throw an interception in his final three games of the year.
Looking ahead, Young is clearly at the top of the depth chart for Carolina's quarterback room. However, we may not be able to write his name down there in permanent marker just yet. One NFL analyst thinks Young could be on the hot seat in 2025. Here's what Maurice Moton from Bleacher Report wrote about that possibility.
B/R puts Bryce Young on hot seat
"Young should be the Panthers' Week 1 starter, but he's not playing under the same coaching staff and front office that drafted him two years ago. Canales was quick to bench Young during his early-season struggles in 2024, but the 23-year-old bounced back when given a second chance. Now, Young must show why the previous regime selected him with the first pick of the 2023 draft."
While it was a surprise to see Young listed among names like Geno Smith, Tua Tagovailoa and Derek Carr, there is some logic to this.
The first thing to remember is that head coach Dave Canales was extremely hesitant to name Young the team's starting quarterback for the rest of the year, even after he had strung together several promising starts in a row after midseason. At one point Canales even made the perplexing claim that he still wanted to see what Andy Dalton could do.
While it would be madness to bench Young if he picks up where he left off in 2025, it may not take much for Canales to change his mind. If Young were to regress and start playing like he did during his rookie campaign then the Panthers might feel pressed to make another change at quarterback.
That said, we think this would be a mistake. By now Young should have earned the right to have a bad game or two without having to worry about getting yanked from the starting lineup. Unless he totally bombs and performs the way he did in Weeks 1-2 in the 2024 season then benching Young would be a foolish, knee-jerk kind of move.
For one thing, the Panthers don't have a clear quality backup behind Young. Dalton will become a free agent in a few weeks and at 37 years old it makes sense for the front office to move in a younger direction at QB2. However, this is a very weak free agent class of quarterbacks and the 2025 draft class is also supposed to be thin at this position. That means finding a strong option to replace Young is going to be really difficult unless they can pull off a trade.
Bottom line: unless the wheels totally fall off, Young should start every game for the Panthers in 2025, barring an injury.
