Bryce, Bryce, baby.
On September 16th, Bryce Young was benched by the Carolina Panthers after 18 career starts.
His career was deemed to be over and called the worst number one overall draft pick since JaMarcus Russell in 2007.
Apart from some rookie errors, not much was directly Young’s fault in his rookie year of 2023.
Along with Frank Reich’s management, the roster built by Scott Fitterer, a lack of a number one receiver, an injured offensive line, play-calling duties being passing to and from Reich and offensive coordinator, and the firing of the head coach and quarterback coach midseason – a long list – Bryce Young did not have much talent or consistency surrounding him.
Armed with a new head coach, offensive staff, weapons and big money spent on the offensive line, Young’s year two looked promising.
But after disappointing performances in the first two weeks of the season with no passing touchdowns and three interceptions – and only 84 yards thrown against the LA Chargers – Young was benched for veteran quarterback Andy Dalton.
In Dalton’s first game, he threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns leading the team to their first victory. That seemed to proved beyond doubt that Young was the problem.
However, after five starts and the offense running well, Dalton got injured in a car accident. Young benefited from Dalton’s unfortunate injury by getting the starting job back in Week 8.
It was clear that during his five weeks as back-up, Young soaked up all the lessons to be learned.
With the help of the young receiving weapons acquired in the 2024 offseason and a top ten performing offensive line costing $153m in free agency, Young has came back to a different team.
He is showing a newfound confidence never seen in Carolina before. Since his return, he has had a run of three good performance. Those games also included back-to-back wins for the first time in his career.,
Young almost delivers shock of the season
Young turned in arguably his best professional performance in Week 12 against the toughest of opponents – the Kansas City Chiefs. He was finally playing with a smile on his face and celebrating each first down.
The 23-year-old showed confidence and calmness in the pocket behind his offensive line with heavy blitzing from the Chiefs and a first-class defensive line led by Chris Jones.
Young went toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes. With just 1:35 left to play he had tied the game at 27-27 against the back-to-back Super Bowl champions.
He recorded a season-high passer rating and his second-highest total yards thrown in a single game.
Young is making huge strides towards proving himself as the franchise quarterback the Panthers thought they were getting.
With praise from teammates, ex-players and pundits alike, can Young continue this run and put himself among the league’s best?
