Bryce Young spent the first few years of his NFL career giving people plenty of reasons to question whether he could become the quarterback the Carolina Panthers believed they were drafting.
Now, he is starting to give them reasons to change their minds.
Young was named Julian Edelman's “Employee of the Week” after throwing for 287 yards and three touchdowns in Carolina's demolition of the Atlanta Falcons. It was his second straight three-touchdown game to open the season, and it pushed him to 648 passing yards, six scores, and just one interception through two weeks.
Bryce Young is finally showing the Carolina Panthers who he is
That's a big change from the conversation around Young not long ago.
The numbers are obviously the first thing that stand out, but Young's early season turnaround goes beyond his stat line.
He looks more comfortable. He's playing faster. He's making decisive throws and taking advantage when defenses give him opportunities.
That was especially obvious against Atlanta.
Young completed 23 of 36 passes and consistently spread the ball around, connecting with Tetairoa McMillan for 101 yards, Jalen Coker for 66, and Darren Waller for two touchdowns.
That's what the Panthers needed to see from him.
Bryce Young is making the NFL take notice, in a good way
Young isn't being asked to make something happen on every single snap. He's taking what is there, waiting for his opportunities, and then making defenses pay when they show him one.
That sounds simple, but it wasn't always the case earlier in his career.
Now, through two games, Young has put together back-to-back performances with a passer rating above 110. He's also become just the second quarterback in Panthers history to throw three touchdowns in each of the first two games of a season, joining Jake Delhomme in 2007.
The Alabama product doesn't need one former NFL star to tell everyone he's playing well. Young's exceptional performances are doing that for him.
That is a much different conversation than the one Young was dealing with after his benching in 2024.
There is still a long way to go. Two games don't erase the struggles of the past three seasons, and Young will face plenty of opportunities to prove this start is more than a hot streak.
But that's the point. Young is finally giving the NFL something new to talk about.
Instead of asking whether the Panthers made the wrong choice at quarterback, people are starting to wonder what Carolina can do with a quarterback who looks like he's finally becoming the player it hoped he would be.
And that makes Young one of the league's most intriguing quarterbacks to watch right now.
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