After the tumultuous start to Bryce Young’s career, there were very few people left on the planet who still maintained belief that he would be a good NFL quarterback. It’s no exaggeration to say that the first 18 games of his career were cumulatively some of the worst from a first overall pick in NFL history.
A complete rebuild of the offensive coaching staff and offensive line for the Carolina Panthers gave us an offseason of optimism in 2024. The theory was that the Panthers had elevated the offense to a point that evaluators would be able to get a true evaluation of Young. The hope inherent in that theory came crashing down almost instantly after Young’s very first pass attempt of the season was intercepted.
About 7.5 quarters of football later, Young had been benched and Andy Dalton was set to start for the foreseeable. The media lambasted the organization and effectively eulogized Young’s lost career while fans dialed up photoshopped images of Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders in process blue.
But then Young was thrust back into the lead role after Dalton was in a minor car accident and fans feared more of the same was coming. Instead, something seemed to click in a big way.
He went from looking barely competent in the first game, to winning a couple games against poor opponents. Then he took both eventual Super Bowls teams and the NFC South division winner (the Kansas City Chiefs, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for those of y’all following along at home) to the wire in 3 straight games, followed by shining in the final 3 games of the season to cap it off with his best game as an NFL player.
On the back stretch of the season, Young passed the eye test for most onlookers. But the eye test is not the only thing that matters any more. Now there are a million and one ways to evaluate players based on numbers alone. Spend 15 minutes on the football side of social media and you’re bound to see a new chart, graph or statistic that adds context to Young’s final stretch.
Impressive as they are when you are just scrolling by, taking an in-depth look at them all at once paints the story of just how impressive the sophomore signal caller was to cap the season.
Impressive accuracy
First of all, a big thanks to Jacob Gibbs of CBS Sports for putting the below tables together and including some corresponding film cut-ups. They tell quite the story of Young’s ability when given time to operate in the pocket.
In the short area of the field, Young was a standout. While being QB5 in catchable ball rate is great, taking the second and first spots in ‘highly accurate throw % to open receivers’ and ‘highly accurate throw %’ are exactly what you wanted to see from him. Young’s career depends on him being able to thrive in the quick game due to the limited margin for error afforded to him due to his physical tools.
It can’t all be sunshine and rainbows, so here’s the black mark on an otherwise impressive set of statistics from here on out. Well, maybe of a more of a gray mark to be honest. The intermediate areas of the field between the 10 and 19 yard were not his forte in 2024, as evidence by the middling numbers in each category. The glass half-full take is that Young’s worst category being the league median is a welcome outcome given how the season started.
The last area of the field is perhaps Young’s most impressive, not because of his final rankings, but rather because the vastness of the comparison between where he started his career to how he finished 2024. For the entirety of 2023 and the first 2 games of 2024, Young looked afraid to target down the field – and when he did it was rarely on-target. In the recap for Young’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, his last game before being benched, I laid out the stats that led to the following conclusion:
Instead of letting plays develop, [Canales] saw an uncomfortable quarterback who threw the ball inaccurately, into tight coverage, over as short of a distance and as soon as possible.
Young went from deep passing being the overwhelming low-point of his game, to top 10 in the league in throwing highly accurate and catchable balls for his receivers down the field. If any set of statistics characterizes Young’s drastic improvement as pocket quarterback in 2024, it’s this set.
Aggressive but efficient
While Young’s shift towards attacking down the field more consistently is one way Young became more aggressive, it wasn’t the only way.
How often QBs throw to tight windows and their throw open rate on those tight window throws (loosely think of it as throws in tight windows where only the receiver could make play on the ball) pic.twitter.com/xuJb0lS7F2
— Jrfortgang (@throwthedamball) January 7, 2025
According to the chart, Young was arguably the best quarterback in the NFL when it came to dropping the football into a spot where only his receiver had a chance to get the ball. Young wasn’t scared to target someone who had a defender near them, trusting his guys to make a play while trusting himself not to put the football at risk. While you don’t want your quarterback to feel forced to constantly throw the ball into tight windows, it’s reassuring to know that he’s not going to put it into harms way when they play dictates it.
Young (back as starter) scrambled far more often when facing disruption (47% vs 25%) allowing him to extend disruption plays by an extra 0.6 seconds.
The results for his production against disruption… going from Cousins spot to this pic.twitter.com/9vGpLJiBgb
— Jrfortgang (@throwthedamball) May 12, 2025
Not only was Young capable of making plays in structure when he wasn’t pressured, he was also able to make the most out of the plays that didn’t go smoothly from the snap. Instead of feeling the pressure and taking the conservative throw-away or dump-off options, Young found ways to extend plays just enough to find the best throw. It takes an aggressive, playmaking mindset for a player to produce an EPA per play on par with Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow.
It could have been even better
While there are plenty of stats to go around that tell the story of Young’s personal performance, there’s others floating around the give you an idea of what he was working with.
Most dropped air yards on on-target throws:
1. BRYCE YOUNG – 210
2. Bo Nix – 163
3. Baker Mayfield – 132
4. Derek Carr – 128
5. Geno Smith – 123 https://t.co/FRR7PZzKWt
— Fantasy Points Data (@FantasyPtsData) May 20, 2025
It’s disconcerting enough to see that Young’s dropped air yards lead the NFL before you realize he played 7 fewer games than most of the other league leaders in the category. Who’s to say what Young’s production would be if Xavier Legette or David Moore found a way to bring in a few more of those deep attempts by Young? Alas, that’s an argument that’s been had many times already. Another year of development for the young receiving group and the addition of Tetairoa McMillan might be just what the doctor ordered.
That’s all I have for you today, Panthers fans. If you have any other interesting stats you’ve come across or want to share your takeaways from the posts I’ve accumulated, make sure to drop them in the comments section below!