NFL
By: Rick O’Donnell
Bryce Young showed a spark towards the end of 2024 that gave the Carolina Panthers hope. Can he continue to grow and become a franchise quarterback?
You might pull up the stat sheet on Bryce Young and think, how does anyone think he improved this year. After all, he only threw 4 more touchdowns and 1 fewer interception. He carried the ball one less and his yards per carry dipped. Carolina had to bench him to send a message. How is that an improvement, right? But improvement can’t be seen on the stat sheet alone. The stats you can see he improved on, he made significant improvements. First and foremost, his average pass went from 5.5 yards up to 6.3. That might not wow people when the top guys are averaging closer to 7, 8, or 9 yards per pass, but Carolina is still in their rebuilding state. More on that later.
The biggest improvement this season for Young is the amount of sacks he took. Credit the offensive line if you must, but Young played with a bit more confidence towards the end of the season. In 2023, he was sacked 62 times on 527 attempts, or roughly 11% of his dropbacks. In 2024 he faired much better with only 29 sacks on 384 attempts or 7.5%. Learning to step up and avoid the sack and throwing the ball away when the play isn’t there will be the key to his development.
Yet still, his best attribute didn’t show up on the stat sheet towards the end of the season. Bryce Young looked a lot more comfortable being under center. He looked like he had more control of the offense, like he had the ability to take over games, and the spark that led to a few wins. Whether or not that carries over will be up to Bryce Young but also, and more importantly, the Carolina Panthers and their recruiting of players to help him succeed. Chuba Hubbard did a great job of being the spark in the run game to open up the pass, but Carolina needs to find more elite playmakers in the passing game.
Not enough of Carolina’s receivers went off this year. It’s almost as if they were built with veterans in mind while they draft or develop a star player. If you look at what Young had to work with you’ll see it wasn’t much. No disrespect to the guys there but this is a young team and they need to grow. Statistically, Adam Theilan was their leading WR with 612 yards. Now you give him a break because he only played 10 games to get those yards and he also caught 5 touchdowns, but that was their top guy.
The rest of the depth chart doesn’t get that same pass. Xavier Leggette played 16 games with 497 yards but 4 TDs. David Moore played all 17 games but only had 351 yards but 3 TDs. Again, that’s not calling guys out. That should be a red flag to the guys in the front office to realize that this is a young team, if they want them to reach their full potential, you need the right combinations of big playmakers and role players. The Carolina Panthers were loaded up with role players, they needed the explosiveness in their passing game. Now, can they guys that are there get to that level? Absolutely, but then you need to build the offensive line to let plays start to develop. You can’t rank in the bottom third of the league and expect guys to get open. Likewise, if you can’t get an elite WR to pull focus away from the other guys, they’ll win far fewer matchups.
The Carolina Panthers are a young team with plenty of talent to develop and Bryce Young is at the forefront. If the Panthers invest properly, he can be the player they hoped he was.
