Bryce Young is having the year two breakout Alabama football fans hoped for
Alabama has had 74 players in the NFL this year, with 62 appearing on 53-man rosters around the league. That’s a lot of guys and some of the biggest playmakers in the NFL.
Alumni Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, and Jahmyr Gibbs have all shined at running back this season. Xavier McKinney and Marlon Humphry are interception leaders. Jerry Judy and Jameson Williams at the wide receiver spot, and of course, Tua and Jalen Hurts at quarterback.
It’s not hard to build a fantasy football roster just off former Alabama greats. That’s why it’s not surprising that in the week-to-week grind of the NFL, the rapid improvement of Bryce Young has gone largely unnoticed.
Young is in his second year with the Carolina Panthers after being taken with the first pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. In his rookie campaign, he struggled massively to adjust to the speed and physicality of the NFL. He was 20th in the NFL in passing yards (2,877), 28th in touchdowns (11), 101st in interceptions (11), posted the 2nd worst quarterback rating, and took the 2nd most sacks.
Young’s struggles initially seemed to carry over to this year, with him being benched following a week two loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. In two games, Young went 31-56 for 245 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions, and six sacks taken. All the while, the Panthers were outscored 73-13.
With that, the Panthers turned to veteran QB Andy Dalton and sent Young to the bench. Prompting speculation that Young would soon find himself on the trading block and saddled with the designation of being a No.1 pick bust.
Flash forward to week eight, and an injury to Dalton forced Young back into the starting role. Expectations were low as the Panthers took the field against the Denver Broncos, and despite going on to lose the game, Bryce Young turned in a serviceable outing, going 24-37 for 224 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Though Young hadn’t wowed, he did do enough to earn the nod the following week.
Week nine saw the Panthers lineup against the New Orleans Saints, who had beaten the Panthers to 47-10 on opening weekend, The Saints had lost six straight and needed a win. With starting quarterback Derrick Carr, who had been out injured, expected to play, they seemed primed to get it.
But then Young, who had lost 17 of 19 NFL starts, went out and suddenly found a way to win, mounting a game-winning drive in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Young’s modest numbers against the Saints led to questions about him as the starter again headed into week 10, Young had modest numbers again but found a way for the Panthers to win in overtime as the running game found its legs behind him.
Since the week 11 bye, Young has made back-to-back starts for the Panthers, going 0-2 against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, both playoff hopefuls. In that time, Young seems to have truly hit his stride.
Despite his 0-2 record in those games, Young has played two of the best games of his NFL career, going 47-81 for 561 yards and two touchdowns. The losses that came on a walk-off field goal to Kansas City and, as the result of an overtime fumble against Tampa Bay, were close. It’s even led to teammates referring to him as “Alabama Bryce”
“When I see Bryce, I’m like, oh, that’s the Alabama Bryce”, Panther’s linebacker Trevin Wallace said following the loss to Kansas City per panthers.com “Like that’s cold. And I love seeing him go making plays because a lot of people doubt him a little, but now you’re showing the doubt is wrong.”
Since returning to the starting role, Young is 102-169 for 1,082 yards, six touchdowns, and three interceptions.
The most improved facet of Young’s game has been pushing the ball down the field. In the first two weeks of the season, Young was 0-4 with one interception on throws of 20+ yards. On throws of 10-19 yards, Young was 6-13 for 123 yards and two interceptions.
Since returning to the starter spot, Young has gone 8-21 for 226 yards, one touchdown, and one interception on passes of 20+ yards. And 26-53 for 376 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
A lot of this success has come as Young’s ability to handle pressure has grown and an increase in the play-action game from Carolina.
In weeks one and two, Young was 2-14 for 45 yards, with one interception when pressured. In weeks eight through 13, Young is 26-56 for 395 yards and two touchdowns when facing pressure. For Young, who was pressured on 40.7% of dropbacks last season and 36.5% of dropbacks this season, this adaption in his game has been huge.
The development of the running game along with the play action has also helped settle in Young. In 2023 the Panthers rushed for a league-worst seven touchdowns, Already this year the offense has turned in 10. Still not great, but an improvement.
Along with that has been an increase in the play-action game. In the full course of 2023, Young used play-action on just 17% of dropbacks (106 total times). In 2024 it’s increased to 23.7% (63 total dropbacks).
Looking back to his time at Alabama this is what made Bryce Young thrive in 2022 25% of Young’s dropbacks were play-action and 30% in 2021.
Bryce Young may be overshadowed right now, but on a Carolina Panthers roster that isn’t the best he has started to make real strides, and while the 3-9 Panthers aren’t expected to do much the rest of the way through the question is raised could 2025 be the year of Bryce Young.