Young endured the rocky start of his career after joining Carolina as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft.
The bottom came in a Week 2 loss in his second season, when head coach Dave Canales called up the young Andy Dalton after an 0-2 start.
Up to that point in his career, Young was 2-16, completing 59.3% of his throws for 3,122 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He came out of the lineup for most of his rookie year, and in his first two contests under Canales, he came in as the QB whisperer, while the veteran Dalton regained notable fitness in the Panthers offense over the next five games.
However, Dalton suffered a sprained thumb in a car accident before the team’s Week 8, allowing Young to rejoin the lineup. Young never looked back.
He picked up his game in the 2024 campaign, giving particular cause for optimism by going 2-1 with 612 passing yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions in Carolina’s last three games. He carried that into last season, easily his best in the NFL, throwing for 3,011 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 picks while leading the Panthers to their first NFC South title since 2015 and establishing himself as the QB of the future.
Carolina has since picked up a fifth-year option, and general manager Dan Morgan said the team plans to sign Young to a long-term contract “at the right time.”
Brown pointed to the professionalism with which Young approached his benching — and any criticism since — with a steely mentality that has allowed him to rise to the position he holds in the organization today.
“He took the class and man, he just came to work every single day and killed it,” Brown said. “He didn’t care. He went right back to what he does. To him, it’s about playing football. I’ll be honest, I know everybody has an opinion on him, but I would never want to be a quarterback in the NFL. It might be the worst job you can have. It’s the highest paying job you can have in the NFL and then just say goodbye every day. To still be able to come in there and be good at your job.”
Rather than having to prove himself in 2026 as was required of him last season, Young enters the upcoming campaign positioned to build a year that potentially resets his career and changes the path of the long-suffering Panthers along with it.
He and Carolina are going to defend their league title.
Along the way, they’ll play three games in prime time — their most since 2016 — giving the Panthers more viewers to perhaps eat their words about the once-maligned QB.