It’s Now or Never for Bryce Young

As the start of the 2024 NFL season approaches, pressure is beginning to mount on Carolina Panthers starting quarterback Bryce Young.

Young and Carolina are coming off a tumultuous season that was headlined by a mid-year coaching change and a league-worst record of 2-15.

To make matters worse, the once presumed No. 1 overall pick, C.J. Stroud, led the Houston Texans to an AFC South title and a playoff win. Of course, Young’s situation was much different from his peers.

No one will deny that the top pick from the 2023 Draft was dealt a bad hand as a rookie, but excuses can only get a player so far. While many overlooked Young’s poor play a season ago, 2024 comes with much higher stakes for the Alabama product.

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Revisiting Carolina’s Costly Maneuver

The Panthers paid a hefty fee to select Young.

Young’s path to Carolina was formed by a series of improbable events. The Chicago Bears secured the first overall pick after the Texans, who held the top pick for much of the season, won their Week 18 contest.

The Bears were still in the process of evaluating their own starting quarterback, making the top pick less important.

Chicago ultimately opted to move back and traded the top pick to Carolina for a package that included:

• The Panthers’ 2023 and 2024 1sr-round picks,
• Carolina’s 2025 2nd-round selection
• Wide receiver D.J. Moore.

Although this was a steep price, the premise behind this move was that if the Panthers could secure their franchise quarterback, it would all be worth it. After weeks of speculation and rumors, the Panthers took Young with the first pick.

Football pundits seemed to mostly approve of this decision, as Young was a successful college quarterback with a bevy of NFL traits. With new head coach Frank Reich and a cadre of experienced assistants, the Panthers were poised to be an underrated team for 2023.

However, once the season started, reality became inescapable. Carolina was ill-equipped to groom a young quarterback, and its rookie signal caller paid the price.

Young finished his forgettable season throwing for 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.

The highlights were scant, and the issues were myriad. In fact, the Panthers were so dreadful that they finished with the worst record in football, only they no longer had rights to their pick.

The Bears, who had won a respectable seven games, picked first overall, selecting USC phenom Caleb Williams.

An Underwhelming Rookie Campaign

Young’s rookie performance left fans wanting more.

As it stands now, the Panthers are on the losing end of one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory. Everything that could’ve gone wrong so far has, and the franchise has become a laughingstock as a result.

With that said, it’s too early to make any definitive proclamations. The future of Panthers football rests on the shoulders of one man and his ability to grow as a player.

As easy as it is to throw Young’s supporting cast from a season ago under the bus, it wouldn’t be fair to completely absolve him. For a quarterback who was lauded for his pro-ready game and precociousness, there were some troubling developments.

Young has always been small in stature. At 5-foot-10, 204 pounds, he is the smallest starting quarterback in the league.

The lack of size didn’t seem to phase Young in college, which led to him being likened to New Orleans Saints great Drew Brees. However, as a professional, this was far more of a hindrance. Young seemed to struggle to see the entire field and looked overwhelmed standing inside the pocket.

Additionally, his poise and visceral playmaking were greatly diminished, limiting Young’s ability to work around suboptimal conditions. Finally, his arm was underwhelming. No one expected Young to be Patrick Mahomes reincarnated, but by most accounts, he possessed at least average arm talent.

The biggest issue in this department was velocity, as Young would often float passes, giving defenders time to close in on receivers. Whenever a young quarterback is in a challenging situation, the natural inclination is to blame everyone else, but that would be a disingenuous assessment of Young’s performance.

He amplified and exacerbated a lot of Carolina’s problems rather than masking or mitigating them. For a player who was taken first overall and at the expense of multiple first-round picks and a potential Pro Bowl receiver, fans would be remiss to not expect more.

Why 2024 Can Be a Make-or-Break Season

It all boils down to 2024, with a new coaching staff.

Rookie seasons aren’t the end-all-be-all, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless. They act as primitive tools to evaluate a player and provide fans with a snapshot of their game. Players can improve and tweak their games, but there are certain aspects of their play style and archetype that persist.

It was easy to sympathize with Young last season. It’s now up to him to turn things around.

He doesn’t have to be as good as C.J. Stroud or Caleb Williams to be a franchise quarterback, but he does need to be substantially better in several key areas.

This season will be revealing, as it will allow fans to see the parts of Young’s game that can be sculpted and the ones that are stable. Football is a game of adjustments, and that will certainly apply to Young in the coming years.

Nearly every one of his issues derived from his lack of size. That will never change, but if he can learn how to deal with these limitations without letting them cause his game to unravel, there may be some untapped potential.

Young isn’t a physical specimen, brimming with physical talent. He doesn’t have the upside to be a multi-year project. He needs to prove that he’s a quality NFL starter, and he needs to do it now.

All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise

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