Expectations for Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young this season

Expectations for Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young this season

Two weeks, Chris. We are two weeks away from training camp. Can I get here already? Please. Please. Yeah. Well, first I have a vacation. Me, too. And then we can fast forward and get there training again. Yeah. Okay. Well, before you go on your vacation, before I go on my vacation, Yeah. We got to talk about Bryce Young. Let’s get this sucker started. Get dialed in, Panthers fans. Here comes an indepth look at your team. Exclusive interviews, locker room insight. Let’s huddle up for Panthers playbook. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox, and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panthers Playbook. That’s Chris Lee. Dennis Cox here with you. Just because we’re going on vacation doesn’t mean the content stops for you folks. Chris, let’s go and dive right into it. By the way, we’re talking Bryce Young. What is a realistic expectation for the former number one overall pick going into year three? And that’s a big question going into this year, Chris, because we saw the last, you know, 10 starts or so of the year last year, really like the strong finish we saw at the end of Bryce Young’s season last year, but we can’t discount what happened at the beginning of the year. We can’t still discount completely what happened as a rookie a little bit because we saw that carryover into last year. We need to see him put together a full season where he plays at an elite level or at least at a high level. The guy was a former former number one overall pick. You should expect that from the guy for sure. Um we know 2023 when he came into the league, the Carolina Panthers were a dumpster fire. Yeah. um for his first 11 starts, you know, he was uh you know uh completing more than 20 uh passes per game, which you know, him and Justin Herbert were like the only two quarterbacks to ever do that in NFL history. So, he didn’t necessarily have a horrible start himself. It’s just that the team was horrible, so it therefore looked horrible. and he got sacked over 60 times that year. Mhm. Which for me, you have that the sacks and you have the new uh head coach that kind of came in and this guy had no confidence in in himself or in his line or in the new offense or anything. I think that’s why the beginning of last year looked the way it looked. Not necessarily for me a carryover from 2023, more so of this is where this guy is. he’s got he got beat up, you know, in 2023 and didn’t know what he had yet and uh he needed to sit down and and to see it. So, I don’t take away at the first part of last year, but at the same time, um you know, because that lets me know what he could regress to if things aren’t great around him, but I feel comfortable with what’s what’s around him. And so, I look at the end of last year as like this is a snapshot of what could be. So when you ask me, hey, what is realistic for Bryce Young? We have said that we hope that what they’ve done with the Panthers offense, they were what, a 23rd or something, 23rd, 24th in total offense last year. Uh, with what they’ve done, we’re hoping that they get they jump up and basically end up being that mid tier. Mhm. So, what I did was I went to see what were total yards last year uh per team and number 16, which I’m just going to uh call that the dead middle, even though 16 and 17 would be the dead middle in the NFL. Yeah. Um, it was it was the Dallas Cowboys who had 5,583 yards total, which was an average of 328 yards per game. So, I said to myself, yeah, I think that’s about where the Carolina Panthers should be. So in that case for the Dallas Cowboys who also happened to have Rico Da da last year they averaged about a 100red yards rushing per game with Rico Da with Chuba Huard with the offensive line. I would hope you could get 100 per game. Yeah, I would hope so too. So let’s say it’s 100 per game. That leaves you 228 yards per game that you have to get um you know pretty much from Bryce Young because he’ll be passing the ball. And what I came up to, uh, if you times that by 17 is 3,876 yards. Okay. Three three. So 3876. And I felt like that was maybe a little steep. So I’m going to pull it back down to about 3500 yards. U just to say that maybe he won’t get um over 200 yards for every game. There’ll be some games he’ll get 300. Some games it’ll be a lot less. Um, but I think that’s a good split right there for me. I think that uh he needs to hit 3,500 yards, especially if the other parts of the team are doing what they’re supposed to to do and if everybody is healthy. Okay. So, he hasn’t hit 300 yards in the passing game yet in his career. He’s got to 298, but he hasn’t quite hit 300 in an actual game. So, if you look at the last 10 starts, it’s interesting that you bring up that 3500 passing yard number. The last 10 starts when he came in after Andy Daltton had the wrist injury with the car accident and all that. those last 10 games that he started, if you take those averages and spread them out over a 17game season, that’s 3577 yards, you’re looking at 26 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. Okay, that’s what you’re looking at for Bryce Young. Sounds about right to me. Yeah, it does. Well, here’s the thing, like to kind of give you a little bit of comparison on that. Now, granted, the rushing numbers are going to be drastically different between the two, but Jaden Daniels last year in Washington threw for 3568 yards, 25 touchdowns, nine interceptions. Now granted, Jaden Daniels also has that element of his run game that Bryce Young Bryce Young not saying he’s incapable as a runner, but very much different players. Yes. But you also look at Jaden Daniels was 16th in the NFL in passing yards last season. 16th. Caleb Williams was 17th last year at 3541 yards. He had 20 touchdowns, six interceptions. And you want to talk about a team that had a bad offensive line that fired their coach during the season and all of a sudden Thomas Brown became the offensive coordinator. Does that sound familiar to you, Chris? Um, it’s like a broken record around here. I know, right? From one rookie quarterback to the other. So, I think I mean, honestly, it should be realistic that Bryce Young should be throwing for 3,500 yards. He’s a former one overall pick. I mean, Bo Nicks last year with the Denver Broncos was what, the sixth quarterback taken, was a rookie last year. threw for 3775 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 12 picks. Like, there’s no reason why Bryce Young shouldn’t do that, especially continuity carrying over from one year to the next. Like, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t expect that from a guy like Bryce Young. Again, former number one overall pick with everything coming back on offense this year. I think something that I would like to see this offense improve is just not just from a yard standpoint, but from a scoring standpoint. The Panthers were in the bottom third in the NFL and actual trips to the red zone per game at just under three. It was 2.9. It was Dallas, Jacksonville, Carolina, the Chargers, New England, like all kind of clumped there at like 20 to 24 in in in the in the NFL. Now, the Carolina Panthers when they got to the red zone were top 10 in terms of red zone touchdown percentage, but actually getting to the red zone is actually something that they need to continue to work on. It’s just more trips to the red zone, more points obviously will come from that. But I mean, it’s it’s not out of the realm of possibility. And it should be expected that if you say 3600 yards, 3,700 yards for Bryce Young this season, that should be an expectation. I mean, 3,700 yards will put you at just under CJ Strad last year at 3727. Yeah. Like that. I mean, like we’re asking a forborn overall pick to be middle of the pack. Yeah. like that should be reasonable. It really should be. And it’s also take into account like if you’re playing a whole 17 and uh with everything that you know was uh added to the offense this year. First off, the running game should be uh a smidge better because you brought in Rico D like you have old lines back. He could he could possibly be go to another team and be the number one running back and you have that guy as the number two. Um and then you mentioned offensive line. Uh, we have some questions about the tight end group, but still feel like we like the tight end group when healthy, but that wide receiver core, like somebody, if they don’t carry seven on the initial 53, somebody is going to make another team a really a pretty decent, you know, number four wide receiver when they get cut, right? because this is probably the best wide receiver core that I can remember the Carolina Panthers having where legit one through six, not saying that they’re world beaters, right? But one through six is probably better than what like five and six are probably better than what the Carolina Panthers had three years ago. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? Now the question is like who’s still that number one guy? cuz I mean obviously there’s the days of the Steve Smith and all that, but like who could be that number one? It feels like Ted Royer McMillan that’s that’s his job to come take. Um but it’s hard to ask a rookie to do that. At the same time it doesn’t Right. It’s hard hard to ask a rookie to do that but also I don’t think there’s a rush because I think there’s enough to go around to where in this case maybe you’re middle of the pack because you haven’t had a number one emerge. Uh top 10, you have Cincinnati, Detroit, Tampa, uh you had uh Seattle, you had Minnesota, you had Baltimore, you had KC, you had uh the Jets, you had the uh uh uh Chargers. I saw LEC, I was going to say Clippers, and I was like, that’s not the Clippers. Uh and then you had San Francisco. All of those teams, most of those teams had a number one guy that you could really count on that was there who who for sure you looked at that guy and you know for sure that that’s their number one. Um Carolina Panthers don’t quite have it yet. We feel like we know who will end up being. And I think that also works with what we’re saying. He should fall middle of the pack once Tedola McMillan uh really comes around and being in that as that number one. Then I think the uh what we think about Bryce and his his expectations that also goes higher because then maybe next year you’re talking about in 2026 maybe Bryce you’re a 4,000 yard passer especially especially if things start you know going right with the receiving core. I agree with you. I agree with they eventually getting there, but I mean, is it realistic to expect that Bryce Young would to pass for as many yards as Bo Knicks did last year? Like I mean, you said 3,700, right, for Bo Knicks last year? 3,75. Yeah. I mean, and then went 10 and seven, play the playoffs, 29 touchdowns, twice. Like, is that unrealistic to expect from a guy like him? It’s not. It shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be. Like we we should raise the expectations for Bryce Young coming into this year. Like we really need to. And I think the Panthers obviously as an organization need to. Like he can’t come out there and just throw duds. He really can’t. If you again look at the last 10 games that he started last year from that Broncos game all the way through the end of the season, which by the way there are four games that went to overtime during that 10ame stretch. He averaged about 210 yards passing a game. Yeah. Like 210. and a passing NFL and a passing league and the way the era of football is nowadays as opposed to even what it was 10 years ago like 210 not unrealistic. Yeah. Like we should expect that at minimum from him this season. At a minimum. So since we’re talking about the minimum, what do you think is the maximum? Because I think you and I are both giving I think we gave conservative answers based off of what they did last year and looking at Bryce playing the entire year with health and uh full deck of cards available to him. What do you think is the maximum but what type of jump do you think he can realistically make? That’s a tough one. Like what would be the ceiling? Like we kind of gave like a four. Like what would be the ceiling on that? Um I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility if I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility. I think some of this factors into like there’s got to be context with it a little bit in the sense of are you ahead in games? You’re not going to be throwing quite as much. You know, like we saw Jaden Daniels like his numbers weren’t that high relative to some other people in terms of the season numbers, but when you’re winning games, you’re running at the ball a lot more. I think it’s realistic to say I mean 3800 passing yards which would kind of put you in line of Kyler Murray or Kyler Murray last year was 3851 on a on a 500 team 8 and N9 I call you know 8 and 9 is potentially 500 but miss 3851 yards on a 500 team last year like should we I mean you and I are anticipating an 89 win season for the Panthers like who’s to say that he can’t be that either by the way Murray was a number one overall pick himself Yeah, I I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility. I think that is like a good range to expect. If he throws for 4,000 or more, I ain’t going to hate it, you know? I’m not going to hate it at all. But I think if he does 4,000, I mean, that that definitely puts him in the top 10 in NFL. Oh, you’re talking five. Yeah, even Patrick Mahomes didn’t have 4,000 last year. He’s very close. Very close, but he didn’t hit 4,000. Um, so I mean, if he does that, but that’s the thing though. I do think that that is attainable within the next few years. Sure. If Bryce uh is is uh you know developing the way he should and if the Carolina Panthers is continuing to keep this team together and build it the way that they should. 4,000 should not be a problem by 2027. No, it shouldn’t be. Like you’re a number one overall pick. Yeah, you should be. Yeah. Like you should be I mean look at the last the the top three passers in terms of yards last year were Joe Burrow, Jared Golf, Baker Mayfield. What do all three of those guys have in common? First pick. They were the first pick. I was going to say they have a number one wide receiver, but yeah, there’s that, too. I mean, there’s that, too. But but these guys were all number one picks at some point. Then, like you said, all have number one wide receivers and like true go-to options there. Maybe Carolina will eventually like McMillan grows into that. Maybe that’s eventually the case. But I I I think the the expectation and the standard for Bryce of what she we should expect this upcoming year, year three, it can’t just be like an okay season. Like it just can’t be like mid like can’t just be mid this season or even like a little bit below that. There’s no reason again like you can’t be top half of the NFL in terms of like top 15, top 16 in passing. What’s mid to you? Under 3,500 passing yards. Yeah. Like I would say like if if he throws like 3,200 this season, then you literally are dropping down into like the Jordan Love who only played 15 games last year, but like you’re dropping into like a pretty low category. Even if you go in terms of like yards per game, again, the last 10 starts for Bryce Young was 210. Derek Harr was 214. like that. That’s again that’s what we’re looking at. Derek Carr was 214 yards passing a game. He only played in 10 games because of injuries and all that. Daniel Jones Daniel Jones last year 207 and he got fired. Yeah. Midseason. He got fired mid-season. And he got fired. Yeah. Like Daniel Jones was 207 passing yards a game. Again, the last 10 games of the season for Bryce Young was 210. That’s only three yards better than Daniel Jones. Yeah. So, he he should be able to do that, especially, you know, if he’s um if you play minimum 15 games to me, you should have um at least 33. If you pull a if you play the full 17, you need to have at least uh 36. Yeah. 36. Russell Wilson threw for 225 yards last year. Like per game, like come on. Yeah, that’s Russ. Well, I mean, he’s not a bad thrower, though. That’s No, I mean, you know, his arm’s like a noodle now. It’s not as good as it was, but he still was able to get some air under. I mean, let’s let’s not disrespect the guy Russ though. Making a rain out there throwing up jump off. But listen, he married Sierra. He can do no wrong in my eyes. You know what? I want to see you one, two step. We about to get it on. See? Yeah. Yeah. Pittsburgh told him to one two steps. That’s what they told him to do. Again, leave your thoughts in the comments section. What is the realistic expectation for Bryce Young? Like what should we expect? Like realistic season, but what should be the expectation for Bryce Young this upcoming season as we’re two weeks away from training camp. Chris, you go enjoy your vacation. I’m going to go enjoy my vacation. You do, too. Yes. We’ll see y’all next time.

Dennis Cox & Chris Lea discuss realistic expectations for Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young for the 2025 NFL season.

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