Will the Panthers Starting Quarterback Be Considered a Bust?
No, I do not believe that he is. Bryce Young has had a tumultuous time so far in Carolina. As the starting quarterback, the Panthers have posted a terrible 7-27 record. Considering what the Panthers gave up to get Bryce Young, he is currently a net negative. I believe that the Bryce Young problem isn’t a Bryce Young problem at all. Being drafted onto one of the worst teams ever to grace the modern NFL and expected to turn them into a playoff team immediately is not the fault of the former number one overall pick. It should be no wonder at all to reason as to why Young has been so bad in his short NFL career. Let’s dive into some factors that have affected Bryce Young’s development.
Talent
There should be no questions about the talent of the Panthers' starting QB. In two seasons as the starter for Alabama, Young threw for 8,200 passing yards and 79 touchdowns. Locking up a Heisman along the way, the first quarterback to win the Heisman in school history. Young places second amongst all Alabama quarterbacks for both yards and touchdowns. Leaving his legacy at Alabama, Young was taken first overall in the 2023 draft. The biggest knock against Young is his size. Draft experts everywhere claimed that he was the perfect prospect, except for his size. At the combine, Young measured in at five-foot-ten and weighed in at 204 pounds. His size was not the worst knock to have, considering the success of other shorter quarterbacks. Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson, just to name a couple. The Panthers paid big to grab Young, sending away star wide receiver DJ Moore and two first-round picks. Carolina believed that Young was their guy for the future. Along with a fresh new head coach, veteran Frank Reich, the future looked bright for the Carolina Panthers.
What Went Wrong in 2023?
Where do we start? 2023 was truly a season of hell for both the Panthers and Bryce Young. For starters, the offensive line was, uh, well, to put it lightly, awful. The Panthers' offensive line ranked fourth-worst in the league for 2023. The offensive line gave up 62 sacks, second only to another player in the league, resulting in 477 yards lost due to sacks, leading the league. The offensive line constantly gave up pressure, with Young getting pressured 150 times. You don’t need to be a genius or know football well to know that this resulted in turnovers. You can’t score points if you don’t have the ball. Young threw 10 interceptions and fumbled 11 times. The result is 21 turnovers from the most critical position on the field alone. No quarterback can perform their job under that kind of pressure, not even the best. That's the equivalent of the internet going down every 20 minutes at work. Awful. While the offensive line is a massive reason for the “lackluster” performance, they are far from the sole problem.
To get Bryce Young, the Panthers had to trade away their best offensive asset at the time. Without DJ Moore leading the receiving room, a key offensive position lacked talent, mostly. Coming into the 2023 season, the Panthers looked to overhaul many key positions. 2023 was a down year for free-agent wide receivers. With few options and lacking picks, the Panthers settled for a veteran presence. Enter Adam Thielen: Two-time Pro Bowler, one-time All-Pro, and nine-year veteran. Adam Thielen is far from the most attractive option, but what he gets you is consistency. You couldn’t ask for a better receiver for your first-year franchise quarterback. Unfortunately, this is where the talent stops. To pair with Theilen, the Panthers signed DJ Chark and drafted Jonathan Mingo with the 39th pick in the second round. Together, Chark and Mingo totaled 943 and five touchdowns, of which Mingo scored none of.
The Panthers fired Frank Reich after 11 games. Firing head coaches is never good for a young, developing team, especially when the quarterback is a rookie, let alone mid-season. Not even one season down, and the Panthers had fallen apart at the seams. Young quarterbacks need consistency to learn and develop in a system. Constantly changing the system sets back a quarterback, never allowing them to catch their footing. The Panthers’ front office cleaned house, with most coaches either being fired or walking.
Along with Reich went quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and assistant head coach/running backs coach Duce Staley. The offensive coordinator, Thomas Brown, walked, and so did passing game coordinator Nathan Carroll. With the most critical parts of the offensive coaching staff gone, Young was left in coaching limbo—a nightmare scenario. The Panthers organization had failed their new franchise star. Heading into the 2024 season, the fans were left with nothing but questions and worry.
Another Era: 2024
The priority for the Panthers heading into the offseason was a head coach. The Panthers targeted multiple candidates. Mostly from different teams, they passed on their interim head coaches, Steve Wilkes and Chris Tabor. The Panthers landed on Dave Canales. A rookie head coach, Canales had garnered a reputation for reviving quarterbacks. With Canales, Geno Smith had a complete career resurgence, winning Comeback Player of the Year. Then with Baker Mayfield in Tampa. Both quarterbacks were coming off down years before working with Canales. The Panthers are dedicated to Young and brought in a bright young coach to help him get to the next level.
The Panthers also heavily invested in their offensive line and completely overhauled the trenches, hitting free agency hard. To start, the Panthers signed guard Robert Hunt. Hunt signed a massive $100 million contract, with $63 million guaranteed over five years. The Panthers then grabbed Damien Lewis for $53 million, with $26 million guaranteed over four years. Right off the bat into free agency, the Panthers committed over $150 million to protecting Bryce Young. It’s hard to say that these two are the sole reason for the line’s resurgence, but they had a significant effect on the offensive line. Behind the new line, Chuba Hubbard had his best season of his career, finishing with over 1,000 rushing yards, and Young was only sacked 29 times and lost 189 yards from sacks—a massive improvement from 2023.
The Panthers attempted to tackle the issue at wide receiver and partially succeeded. The Panthers traded for Diontae Johnson. During his time with the Steelers, Johnson was a reliable and solid receiver. Johnson went to a Pro Bowl and was an All-Pro, with over 4,000 receiving yards for the Steelers. Unfortunately, Johnson’s time with the Panthers was short. Johnson was the leading receiver through seven games before the Panthers decided to trade him to the Ravens. The Panthers didn’t stop at Johnson, as they drafted Xavier Legette 32nd overall in the 2024 draft. Legette showed some flashes of potential but was otherwise lackluster. Undrafted free agent Jalen Coker surprised everybody when he showed out in a couple of games. The Panthers were trying, but nothing panned out in the receiver room this year. The rookies get some slack because of a lack of experience and a lack of veteran presence in the receiver room.
Bryce Young started the season off extremely rough. In the first two games of the season, Young did not throw for over 200 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions. Canales decided to bench Young for the next few games, putting Andy Dalton in charge of the offense. Benching Young was considered a controversial decision. Already low on confidence, benching Young could have been a career killer. Despite benching him, Canales continued to say that he and the Panthers were committed to Young moving forward. In Week Five, Young came back into the starting role. It had seemed that the time off didn’t change much with Young, throwing for 1,492 yards, eight touchdowns, and six interceptions. The dreaded bust label had fallen upon Young, and it was hard to say otherwise. Up to this point, Young had not shown the promise we had seen in college; he appeared not to be the chosen one for Carolina. Then all at once, at the end of the season, everything changed. In the last three games of the season, Young lit up the football field. During these three games, Young threw for 612 yards, seven touchdowns, and no interceptions, with a 64% completion rate to boot. Bryce Young had finally arrived, but is this a fleeting stretch? We can’t fully decide that yet. 2025 will be Young’s make it or break it year.
2025, The Future
2025 will be Young’s year of reckoning or the final nail in his coffin. In the 2025 draft, the Panthers drafted Tetairoa McMillan with the eighth overall pick. McMillan had a phenomenal college career at Arizona, totaling 3,423 receiving yards, 213 receptions, and 26 touchdowns. A true X receiver for Young, and along with the signing of Hunter Renfrow, two more additions for the receiving room. Now with two veteran receivers and two young first-round pick receivers, the receiving room is primed for the future. After revamping the offensive line and nabbing a coach famous for reviving quarterbacks, the pressure is on for Young. Whether or not Young will rise to the occasion is solely on him, but I believe. The Panthers did not set up the former Alabama QB to succeed in his rookie year. Now two years removed, the Panthers have done their part to foster an environment of success. Are fans ready for the breakout season of Bryce Young?
