Bryce Young has his own buzz right now, and Tetairoa McMillan thinks it belongs in the NFL MVP conversation.
That’s the case the Panthers wideout made in an interview with Kay Adams, after Young kept stacking numbers through the first four games of the season. Carolina’s quarterback has thrown for 1,268 yards with nine passing touchdowns and two interceptions, while also adding 19 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown for the 2-2 Panthers.
The production has come in a variety of ways, too. According to Next Gen Stats, Young has 411 pass yards under pressure, four passing touchdowns under pressure, 321 deep passing yards, seven passing touchdowns outside the numbers, 534 passing yards outside the numbers, 928 passing yards vs. zone coverage and 340 passing yards vs. man coverage.
The Panthers have already seen the full range of this start. They opened with a loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 1, bounced back against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, fell to the Cleveland Browns in Week 3 and then beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football in Week 4.
Young’s rise has also changed the financial conversation. He is making $12.1 million this season in the fourth year of his rookie deal, and Carolina already picked up his fifth-year option, which is worth a guaranteed $25.9 million.
The Panthers did not work out an extension, so Young still has to keep proving it if he wants a bigger deal next offseason. So far, he’s doing exactly that.
The turnaround is hard to miss. Young helped lead Carolina to the playoffs last season, where the Panthers lost to the Los Angeles Rams in a wild-card game at home. That came after he was benched for Andy Dalton in 2024, a move that led plenty of people to believe his time in Carolina was finished.
Now the Panthers are on their bye week, with Young not scheduled to return until October 18 against the Philadelphia Eagles. They’re also sitting tied with the Falcons for first place in the NFC South after winning the division last season.
McMillan has been a huge part of why Young’s numbers are so strong. The 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year has 26 catches for 385 yards and two touchdowns through four games, and his explosion against the Lions stood out even more: 14 catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns.
That Week 4 outing put McMillan on pace to blow past his 2024 totals of 70 catches and 1,014 yards.
Together, Young and McMillan have helped drive Carolina to 30.3 points per game, good for fourth in the NFL.
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Panthers Fast Start Feels Real But One Concern Isn't Going Away
At the start of the 2026 season, the NFC South looked like a division waiting to sort itself out, with all four teams dropping their openers and Carolina buried near the bottom of the early power rankings. Since then, the Panthers have forced a very different conversation. A win over the Lions helped lift them to 14th in NFL.coms latest rankings, and their offense has been one of the leagues most productive groups, leading the NFL in passing yards per game while piling up 121 points through four games.
The fast start is real, and it has Carolina looking more like a team that belongs in the playoff picture than one trying to dig out of the preseason projections. Still, there is one concern that has not gone away, even as the rankings have moved up and the offense has kept humming. The Panthers have changed the tone around the team in a hurry, but the next stretch will tell whether this is a breakthrough or just an early burst that still has something vulnerable underneath it. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Young Has Changed Carolina's Biggest Long Term Question
The Panthers head into their bye week at 2-2 and in first place in the NFC South, with Bryce Young giving the organization something it has not had in a while: a reason to think long term without immediate hesitation. His early-season play has not just steadied the offense, it has shifted the conversation around the franchises biggest decision, because a quarterback who looks like this changes the timeline on everything that comes next.
Princely Umanmielen has created a similar kind of momentum on the other side of the ball, stepping into a larger role as a pass rusher and making it matter while Jaelan Phillips is injured. The Panthers still have plenty to sort out over the stretch run, but the combination of Youngs rise and Umanmielens emergence is giving this team a much sturdier foundation than it had a month ago. [Read more 🡒]
Tyler Shough Knows Saints Fans Have Every Reason To Be Frustrated
The NFC South is already doing what it always seems to do this time of year, mixing quarterback questions, injury updates and plenty of frustration. Falcons safety Jessie Bates said Atlanta looks different when Michael Penix Jr. is on the field, while Panthers coach Dave Canales spent part of his Week 5 availability defending cornerback Akayleb Evans after some costly plays and running through the latest injury statuses for his roster.
For Carolina, the broader picture still matters because the division keeps shifting around the quarterback spot, and Saints rookie Tyler Shough is now the latest voice acknowledging how quickly fan patience can wear thin after a loss to Atlanta. He also pointed to the importance of crowd energy in the games ahead, a reminder that the mood inside the dome can still travel with a team even when the results on the field are hard to take. [Read more 🡒]