Cat Scratch Reader
Which underrated players can help the Panthers be competitive again in 2025?
NFL teams are often caught in the quarterback conundrum. While quarterbacks are not the only predictor of team success — that’s why the “quarterback win” is a ridiculous statistic — you’ll be hard-pressed to get where you want to go without a man who understands how to play the most important position in sports at a fairly high level.
Through the 2023 season, the Carolina Panthers were very much on the wrong end of the equation. The franchise traded its ninth overall pick, receiver D.J. Moore, and other draft capital for the ability to take Alabama’s Bryce Young with the first overall selection. And to say that things didn’t go well at the start would be an understatement. Young concluded his rookie season completing 315 of 527 passes (59.8%) for 2,877 yards (5.8 YPA), 11 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a passer rating of 73.7 that was the NFL’s worst among quarterbacks who played at least 50% of their teams’ snaps. Young was balky in the pocket, more inaccurate than not, and there wasn’t much to go on when it came to second-year improvement.
2024 started off even worse. In his first two games, Young completed 31 of 56 passes for 245 yards, no touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 44.1 — again, the NFL’s worst. New head coach Dave Canales, who got the gig in part because of the work he had done in Seattle and Tampa to help Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield in their development, made the decision to bench Young in favor of veteran Andy Dalton — a situation that kept hold until Week 7, when Dalton injured his thumb in a car accident. Not the most glamorous way to get one’s job back, but Young was finally ready for the rigors of the NFL.
Over the next two weeks, Young held up against the tough Denver Broncos and New Orleans Saints defenses, and really started to hit his stride as the season progressed. In Weeks 16-18 against the Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Atlanta Falcons, Young completed 57 of 88 passes for 612 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 111.6, which ranked seventh-best in the league.
Hopefully, the 2025 Panthers will have that version of Bryce Young from the start. Even so, there’s the matter of the rest of the roster, and the hard truth that there’s a lot to be fixed in that regard. Transcending last season’s 5-11 record, and a franchise history that has no winning records or playoff berths since 2017, will require everybody’s best efforts.
In the continuation of our “Hidden Gems” series, we look at one underrated veteran, one underrated free-agent acquisition, and one underrated draft pick for an organization that could use a lot more talent overall, no matter how it’s rated.
Young’s continued ascent isn’t the only part of the thing when it comes...
