Bryce Young has very quietly been on a heater. The box scores don’t really illustrate how good the Carolina Panthers QB has been, but the play has been excellent.
It hasn’t just been good for Young’s career standards, which remain fairly low even though he’s been playing pretty well since returning to the lineup midway through the 2024 season.
No, Young has been good period, regardless of the standards he’s set. He’s been up there with the best of the best for the last several weeks, including a potential MVP winner.
Bryce Young has been on an absolute heater
Dec 21, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) after a win against Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
In Weeks 13-16, which does include a bye week for Bryce Young, the Panthers QB has been quietly incredible. Take a look at the raw numbers:
51/76 passing560 passing yards186.7 yards per game6 touchdowns0 interceptions115 RTG7.9% TD percentage7.4 yards per attempt
None of that jumps off the page, except maybe the zero turnover stat. Otherwise, these stats have been solid but definitely a little bit pedestrian.
However, taking a closer look, which usually does Young good, we can see that Young’s been impressive in the advanced stats.
QB Efficiency Rankings for Bryce Young over the last 4 weeks, according to @DanDGriffis:
– 2nd in EPA/CPOE Composite
– 5th in Adj EPA/Play
– 3rd in EPA/Play
– 3rd in CPOE#KeepPounding pic.twitter.com/i4d9quGBgU
— 🎄 (@ThomasWrrld) December 22, 2025
The chart above does a perfect job illustrating just how elite he’s been. He has been better, essentially, than everyone except Drake Maye, and even in some regards, he’s been better than Maye.
Some QBs have a better EPA per play in those weeks, like Trevor Lawrence and Matthew Stafford. Only Maye has a better completion percentage over expected. If we combine those two metrics, only Maye has been more impressive overall.
In total, he is:
Second in EPA/CPOE CompositeFifth in Adj EPA/PlayThird in EPA/PlayThird in CPOE
It is really hard to find quarterbacks playing better football than Bryce Young over the last four weeks of the season. He’s heating up at the right time.
Top ranked QB in Week 16🥇@PFF pic.twitter.com/u59pKDhQdS
— Michael Bell (@avl_mike) December 23, 2025
That includes perhaps his best game of the year (maybe his career) in the most important week of the season. Facing near elimination with a loss, Young was PFF’s highest-graded QB of the week, the only player to receive over a 90 grade.
For reference, even his franchise record passing day wasn’t graded that highly. He’s been incredible of late, and it couldn’t happen at a better time for this team.
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