Panthers Commit To Bryce Young Being Starter For Rest Of Season

Panthers HC Dave Canales told reporters on Friday that Bryce Young will be the team’s starter over the final three games of the season. 

The Panthers resisted committing to Young as their starting quarterback up to this point. However, Canales made a point to highlight the progress Young has made in recent weeks. 

“Watching him in game was what was so impressive,” Canales said, via Alex Zietlow of the Charlotte Observer. “To see him just continue to stay in there, to have his footwork exactly where he needed to be to throw to No. 1 in progression and really still see the field. I could not go past Monday without letting him know that. I’ve been around football for 15 years and see where games like that can really pile up on a guy. To watch him handle it and to be composed and to talk with his teammates and keep working with the issues, I thought was so impressive and I wanted to make sure he knew that. That was great and that’s exactly what it looks like to play quarterback.”

The Panthers will once again be drafting high in 2025, but it seems like Young may have shown enough to get another season as the team’s starter, assuming his play doesn’t drop of in the final few weeks of the season. 

Young, 23, was a two-year starter at Alabama and won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore in 2021. The Panthers drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. 

He signed a four-year, $41,217,000 contract that includes a $26,976,000 signing bonus and will carry a $7,494,000 cap figure for the 2023 season. The deal includes a fifth-year option for the 2027 season. 

In 2024, Young has appeared in 11 games for the Panthers, making nine starts and completing 59.8 percent of his passes for 1,791 yards, eight touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has also rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns.