I’ve been tough on Bryce Young, and through four games, I’m starting to run out of new doubts.
That doesn’t mean the case is closed. It just means Young has done enough that the conversation has shifted.
Early in the season, one strong outing wasn’t going to change much for me. Two probably wouldn’t have either.
But what he’s doing now, in the middle of a messy protection situation, is hard to wave away.
The number that really jumps off the page is the one from PFF’s Bradley Locker: Young has been pressured on roughly 47% of his dropbacks. That’s not a little extra heat.
That’s almost half. And somehow, he’s still holding up, with a passing grade under pressure of around 64.
That sent me back to the bigger question I’ve had about Young for a while: what would he look like if Carolina actually gave him something usable around him?
The Panthers have at least started to answer part of that. Tetairoa McMillan looks like a legitimate No. 1 receiver.
Chuba Hubbard has been really good. The offense doesn’t resemble the disasters Carolina has rolled out in recent years.
But the line is still making life brutal.
There are obvious reasons. Taylor Moton has been out.
Monroe Freeling has had to slide over to right tackle after playing almost entirely on the left side at Georgia. Damien Lewis missed the Detroit game.
Corey Bullock had to fill in at left guard. That’s not the kind of setup that lets an offense settle in and play on rhythm.
Still, 47% is 47%. At some point, the pressure number stops being just an offensive line problem and starts becoming a Bryce Young story too - because he’s the one absorbing it and still producing.
Through four games, Young has thrown for 1,268 yards, nine touchdowns and only two interceptions. Against Detroit, in a game I wasn’t sure Carolina could win, he went for 329 yards and two scores. And he did it while dealing with pressure on nearly half of his dropbacks.
That’s why this feels different now. For so long, the discussion around Young was about possibility: what if Carolina got him a real receiver, a running game, some protection, a better situation? Now the more pressing question is what he can do when the situation is still far from clean.
I’m not ready to sprint to any final judgment after four weeks. There’s a lot of season left, and Philadelphia coming out of the bye should tell us more about where Young and this offense really stand.
But I’m also not interested in moving the bar every time he clears it. I wanted to see it more than once, and he’s doing that. I wanted to see him handle adversity around him, and pressure on nearly half of his dropbacks says plenty.
Now somebody needs to block for him.
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Panthers Backfield Shakeup Adds Intrigue To A.J. Dillon Absence
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Etiennes return gives Carolina another option with a familiar track record from his college days, while Tyus gets a chance to carry over the momentum that has kept him in the conversation since joining the organization. For the Panthers, the immediate question is how much each back can handle in game action and how the depth chart settles with AJ Dillon ruled out for the upcoming game, leaving the backfield situation a little more open than it looked a week ago. [Read more 🡒]