Bryce Young has built a reputation for showing up when the game gets tight, and the Panthers are ready for that to become a start-to-finish habit.
That’s the big message coming out of Carolina as the team looks ahead to 2026: the flash of late-game poise is appreciated, but Dave Canales wants more than a quarterback who catches fire in the fourth quarter. He wants Young and the entire offense to bring that edge from the opening snap.
“Really, the message for Bryce, the message for the whole group is consistency,” Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. “And what we've seen is.
We can play really great quarters at times. Can we play full games consistently week in and week out?
That's my messaging. That's the goal.
And consistency means: if we can play this well down the stretch of a game, or we score more points in the second quarter, how about we be consistent with all of it across the board? And that includes the first quarter.
Guys, we don't need to wait around to kind of feel it out and see what's happening. Let's go get it.
“We know what we're doing, and the confidence and the knowledge of how we're trying to employ things really just leads to fast football, and we have all that. We have guys that have been in the system, guys that know what they're doing, and so my expectation is the guys come out and play great from snap one to the end.”
Young has certainly handled pressure well. Since entering the league, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick has already racked up 12 game-winning drives, and the Panthers like that he stays calm when the moment gets loud. But the team’s message is clear: that poise needs to show up earlier and more often, not just when Carolina is scrambling from behind.
Young’s 2025 season gave the Panthers plenty to build on. He threw for 3,011 yards with 23 passing touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while adding 216 rushing yards and two rushing scores. More importantly, he helped lead Carolina to the playoffs for the first time since the 2017 campaign.
For his Panthers career, Young has 8,291 passing yards, 49 passing touchdowns, 30 interceptions, 718 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns. He’s also 14-30-0 as a starter and has gone 0-3 in Week 1.
Young says the approach hasn’t changed.
“For us, every year is a new year,” Young said. “We want to have an emphasis on starting fast; we've talked about that a lot as a team, as a unit, as an organization.
But we know that that comes with work. It's about just having the best week we can possibly, going into the game with as much clear communication and being on the same page as we can.
So we're excited for that challenge again. We just want to go 1-0 every week.
Coach talks about it. It's the most important game of the season because the next one - that's always his mantra.”
The Panthers open the 2026 season at home against the Chicago Bears, giving Young another shot at snapping his Week 1 skid and setting the tone from the jump.
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