Bryce Young has been easy to miss in the Panthers’ recent quarterback noise, but that’s mostly because his summer has been unfolding in the background while everyone else has grabbed the spotlight.
Kenny Pickett opened the first preseason game with a touchdown drive. Haynes King seized the Hall of Fame Game before a hamstring injury landed him on the injured list.
Kyle Trask arrived after that injury and even showed up Sunday in Andy Dalton’s old No. 14 jersey. Through all of it, Young kept doing what he’s been doing throughout camp: stacking quality reps and looking more settled than he has at any point in Charlotte.
The Panthers’ former No. 1 pick and 2021 Heisman Trophy winner has been sharp in practice, especially in the kinds of situations that show whether a quarterback is seeing the field clearly. He has zipped throws to Tetairoa McMillan in the back of the end zone, dropped a touch pass to a tightly covered Ja’Tavion Sanders near the sideline and created plays when he had to move off platform. The public hasn’t seen much of it, but the people around the team have.
Now in his third year working in the Dave Canales/Brad Idzik offense, Young has looked like a quarterback who knows exactly where the ball should go and trusts himself to get it there. Mitchell Evans, the second-year tight end, said the change is obvious.
“Just being here for the last year and a half, I’d say he just seems more comfortable,” said Mitchell Evans, the second-year tight end. “Even from when I first got here to now, he seems more confident in himself.
And just the way he carries himself, he’s got more of a presence. And you can see that reflected on the field and even in the locker room and throughout the building.
You can see he’s more confident.”
That’s a meaningful shift for a quarterback who was benched for five games in 2024 during Canales’ first season in Charlotte. Young has improved in each of the past two seasons, though he’s still not being placed in the league’s upper tier just yet.
In The Athletic’s Mike Sando’s annual quarterback rankings, built from polling 50 executives and coaches, Young checked in 22nd among 35 quarterbacks in the third of four tiers. That was a modest rise from 2025, when he was 24th.
One coach polled by Sando said the same thing Evans sees in camp.
“His command, his confidence, his accuracy, the movement - he just seemed so much more confident as a player,” said the coach, whose team played the Panthers in the second half of the 2025 season. “It was an eye-opener for all of us to watch him perform. It reflected in their team.”
Carolina is encouraged by Young’s trajectory, but not enough to rush into a second contract. The team plans to let him play out this season before making that decision.
That puts a little more weight on what comes next, especially with the Panthers surrounding him with more help. McMillan, the 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year, headlines a group of playmakers that could give Young the kind of support he’s needed. Inconsistency has held him back before, but this camp has offered a cleaner, calmer version of the quarterback.
Young said Sunday that the progress is coming from the people around him as much as from anything he’s doing individually.
“I try to feed off the people around me. All of us are pushing each other, wanting to be at our best,” Young said Sunday.
“Coaching staff challenging me, challenging all of us to take that next step system-wise. It’s just about having that growth mindset.
“For me, I just try to be where my feet are, make sure I’m focused. Whatever happens in the future, happens in the future. When you start thinking about that, you’re not able to focus on where you’re at.”
Young’s next chance to show that growth comes this weekend in Buffalo, where the Panthers will help open the Bills’ new $2.1 billion stadium. Unlike the Hall of Fame Game, he’ll be more involved this time. Canales said the starters are expected to get between 10 and 20 reps, depending on how the offense’s possessions unfold.
If Young gets near the top of that range, he could end up surpassing the total playing time he logged all last preseason. He played two series in each of the first two exhibitions, totaling 20 snaps, before sitting out the final preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I’m excited just to be able to go out there with the guys. Any time you get to play football live in a stadium, it’s a privilege,” he said.
“Especially being able to go out there last week, you’re around it. Obviously I wasn’t playing, but you get that itch again.”
The Panthers still have three more practices before the trip to Buffalo, and Young will get three more chances to win the competition periods Canales builds into team drills. He’s spent plenty of those on the winning side already, though he’s not making much of that now.
He also isn’t interested in turning a strong camp into a larger declaration about what’s ahead.
“I’m not a big sit back, reflect, compare (person). Doesn’t really do anything for me.
So I don’t think about the past like that,” he said. “I’m happy with the camp we’re having so far.
I’m happy with the growth as a unit. But it’s still early.
We’ve got a lot more to do.”
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