It’s getting harder to tell what kind of team the Carolina Panthers really are. One moment, they look like they’re on the verge of finally breaking through. Next, they appear to be on the verge of unraveling completely.
And at the center of it all is quarterback Bryce Young.
Now in his third NFL season, Young continues to remain the most significant variable in a franchise desperate for stability. The ugly comeback win over the Miami Dolphins perfectly sums up the 2025 Panthers: flashes of promise, undone by inconsistency.
Carolina Panthers' progress depends on Bryce Young's continued growth under Dave Canales
Young is only 24 years old, but the patterns are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. He now owns 27 career losses to just eight wins.
Head coach Dave Canales continues to back his quarterback publicly. “We’re counting on him to keep pushing us forward,” Canales said. “He’s leading the group. He’s getting us out there with good energy and good focus.”
Still, belief without results eventually runs dry.
At this point, Canales and Young are tied together. Their futures in Carolina depend on each other. The coach needs the quarterback he was hired to fix. The Alabama product needs the coach who rebuilt Geno Smith’s career to do the same for him. If they can’t, the clock will run out on both.
However, Carolina’s offensive ceiling isn’t as low as its production suggests.
Rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan already looks like a star in the making. Rico Dowdle’s breakout performance of 206 rushing yards showed that the Panthers can win in multiple ways when the pieces click.
What they lack is predictability, not in scheme, but in execution. One drive looks sharp and synchronized; the next, disjointed and directionless. That’s the gap between potential and production, and it’s where Young has to start closing the distance.
He’s processing better. His sack rate has dropped from 7% to 4%. But the offense still looks rough far too often to believe they’ve really turned a corner. And with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, and Green Bay Packers up next, the Panthers are staring down a brutal stretch that could make or break their season.
Carolina needs Young to be steady. To string together drives. To avoid the mistakes that keep pulling this team back to the middle of the pack.
Because right now, the Panthers feel like they’re one spark away from everything finally clicking — or everything collapsing.