After a rough rookie showing and a forgettable two-game start in 2024, Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Bryce Young was sat down by first-time NFL head coach Dave Canales. It proved to be a pivotal moment for the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner.
Lou Scataglia of NFL Spin Zone recently ranked almost every starting in the NFL at the moment. There are no real surprises at the top of the list, with names such as Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels, Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes rounding out 1-6, respectively. On the other hand, he has the Panthers’ young signal-caller listed at a perplexing 24th.
“Bryce Young did play well down the stretch in the 2024 NFL season,” explained Scataglia, “but this wasn’t the case all year, and he is still an unknown in this league and more of a ‘bad’ QB than anything else. Year three for Young and the Carolina Panthers is going to be massive, as this roster is honestly as good as it’s been in quite some time, and the team did grab an "X" wide receiver in the offseason with their selection of Tet McMillan in the 2025 NFL Draft.
"Bryce Young truly has all he needs to take a leap forward, as the Panthers do sport two 1,000-yard rushers in the backfield with Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle. This could be a heavy running team that uses play-action to open things up in the passing attack and to make things easier for Young. "
Then there’s this summation. “If the third-year QB can’t figure things out this season,” said Scataglia, “there’d be no reason for the Panthers to continue things with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.”
That’s an awfully depressing evaluation of a player that rebounded from being benched after two weeks of play to a performer that showed plenty of improvement and confidence in the team’s final 10 games of 2024. In those aforementioned contests, Young connected for 15 scores through the air, and also ran for five touchdowns. He connected on 61.8 percent of his throws for 2,104 yards, and rushed for 223 yards. He did turn over the ball a combined eight times in those 10 outings, which is something he must improve on.
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