The biggest problem for the Carolina Panthers in the beginning of the season seems to be solved. It took a lot longer than anyone hoped, but a year after trading away a lot of assets to go first and select Bryce Young, the quarterback has finally looked like an NFL-caliber player in recent weeks.
Disastrous lows haven’t been a part of his game lately, and he gave them a real chance to beat the Chiefs and Buccaneers, two teams with minimal playoff aspirations. That’s a huge step up from where Young has been for much of his NFL career, and he’s playing his way to landing the Panthers quarterback job in 2025. That’s a big deal because, whoa, this team has a lot needs, and if they don’t need to spend assets on a QB, they can spend them elsewhere.
It’s easy to see why people are so excited and genuinely happy for what Young has accomplished recently — his career has had a legitimately historically bad start. Before benching after Week 2, Young had 3,122 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions through his first 18 starts. That was a paltry 173 passing yards and less than a touchdown pass per game. That’s just not viable production for a rebuilding NFL team trying to figure out what pieces they have worth keeping for the future. Since then, Young’s production has become acceptable and he has made some big throws to give the Panthers a chance to win. That’s all they could ask for at this point in the season, and they can turn their attention to other parts of their roster.
And they desperately need it! Part of the reason they haven’t been able to turn Young’s solid performances over the past two weeks into wins is because the other parts of their team aren’t quite there yet — especially on defense. Buccaneers running backs Bucky Irving and Rachaad White combined for 228 yards and a touchdown on just 36 carries this week in Tampa Bay’s 26-23 overtime victory. They’re two promising players, but they’re not exactly the LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Turner of the mid-2000s. The Panthers defense is a serious concern right now and will severely limit their ceiling going forward, even if Young continues to ascend to a winning quarterback. Having star defensive end Derrick Brown back from injury at some point will help, but they obviously need a lot more than just him back in the lineup.
This is where Young’s improvement really affects the direction of this franchise. According to Tankathon, the Panthers are projected to pick fifth overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. If they don’t have to spend it on an upcoming, potentially weak quarterback class, they can start worrying about their defense and the depth of their skill players, which would at least create a more solid framework for the team to build on. This is widely known as a long, long-term rebuild, but it looks like they can at least push the quarterback problem for another year.
Things could change if Young goes back to his old ways, but let’s not throw these bad thoughts into the air. He is playing much better football that will allow the Panthers to move on to other parts of their roster that are a big reason why they are 3-9 right now. There are still many ways Young could be considered a franchise quarterback, but this is a good start.