Bryce Young didn’t sound surprised by Haynes King’s breakout showing in the Hall of Fame Game. If anything, the Panthers quarterback made it clear he saw this coming.
“It was so cool to see. Haynes has been working so hard.
He's looked great this whole time throughout OTAs, throughout camp. So, I wasn't shocked at all with how great he performed, how great he operated,” Young told the media on Sunday (h/t Joe Person.
King, an undrafted rookie free agent, put together a night that turned heads. He outdueled Carson Beck and the Arizona Cardinals, then finished it off with a last-second game-winning touchdown run.
The stat line backed up the moment. King went 21-of-34 for 180 yards, threw two touchdowns without an interception, and added 39 rushing yards and a rushing score.
Before getting to Carolina, King spent three seasons at Texas A&M and then transferred to Georgia Tech for his final three college seasons. At Georgia Tech, he went 22-14 as a starter, piling up 7,907 passing yards with a 67.6% completion rate, 55 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions.
That performance has put him squarely in the mix for the Panthers’ backup job behind Bryce Young. Kenny Pickett is currently projected to hold that role, but King’s preseason burst has made the conversation a lot more interesting.
Even so, the most likely outcome still appears to be King landing on the practice squad as QB3. But after what he just did in the Hall of Fame Game, it’s hard to ignore the kind of NFL upside he flashed. With Young’s long-term future still uncertain, Carolina has every reason to keep King close and see where this goes.
Bryce Young was fired up for Haynes King at Canton and was not surprised by how he played. pic.twitter.com/Kg8i3lp4mm
— Joe Person (@josephperson) August 9, 2026
In Other News...
Bryce Youngs Viral Interview Moment Has Panthers Fans Talking Again
Before the Panthers took the field for the 2026 Hall of Fame Game, Bryce Young had already given fans one of the more memorable moments of the preseason. The Carolina quarterback sat down with veteran reporter Dave Stevens for an interview and crouched to match Stevens' eye level, a small gesture that fit the kind of scrutiny Young continues to draw as he settles into a bigger role for this franchise. His 2025 season was the best of his career, and Carolina made sure the next stretch of his development will stay in place by exercising his fifth-year contract option for 2026 and 2027.
Young's exchange quickly spread across social media, not just because of the setting but because every public appearance now gets a closer look when a young quarterback is trying to turn a strong year into something more lasting. For the Panthers, it was another reminder that Young's progress is no longer just about box scores or contract language. It is about how he carries himself in moments like this, and why even a brief preseason interview can keep people around the team talking. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Backups Just Turned Up The Heat On Key Roster Battles
The Panthers opened the preseason with a 33-30 Hall of Fame Game win over the Cardinals, and even with most of the lineup made up of backups, there was plenty worth noting for a roster still taking shape. Haynes King capped the night with a walk-off score on the final play, but the bigger takeaway for Carolina may have been how several fringe players handled the moment, turning a summer exhibition into an early test of depth.
John Metchie III and AJ Dillon both stood out in ways that could matter when the coaching staff starts sorting through difficult decisions at the bottom of the roster. For a team looking to find reliable pieces behind its starters, performances like these carry extra weight, especially in a game where the competitive edge came less from the final score than from who looked ready to push for a role. [Read more 🡒]