[The Athletic] How Bryce Young went from slumped shoulders and shaky footwork to soaring confidence

[Joe Bear]

Bryce Young tied for second in the NFL this season in rushing touchdowns among quarterbacks. That’s a statistic that speaks to his much-needed increased willingness to run the ball. It’s an important part of what made Young more successful this year. 

[frankw]

2 hours ago, Joe Bear said:

Bryce Young tied for second in the NFL this season in rushing touchdowns among quarterbacks. That’s a statistic that speaks to his much-needed increased willingness to run the ball. It’s an important part of what made Young more successful this year. 

It's been a welcome addition to his game. The question of sustainability remains though given the circumstances.

[kungfoodude]

On 1/15/2025 at 2:11 PM, t96 said:

It's encouraging. I'm still not totally convinced he can be the guy for us. There are very real limitations there that were not improved on down the final stretch. Honestly I think his absolute best case scenario for us would be Jared Goff level -- which could be fine, but Goff has had his limitations show up in the playoffs too even with his resurgence in Detroit, and Bryce still has a long way to go to get to that level. We don't really have any other options right now (maybe Cam Ward in the draft, but unlikely for many reasons) so Bryce it is for next year and then we'll have more information but I still do think we need to work to find a guy who has potential to be more of a true elite franchise QB like a Mahomes/Allen/Lamar/Burrow, not the potential to be Jared Goff. But next year will tell us a lot more.

Nailed it.

[Joe Bear]

2 hours ago, frankw said:

It's been a welcome addition to his game. The question of sustainability remains though given the circumstances.

His build will always make that a concern in some way, but he has to have this added element of his game to be successful. I was surprised to see he finished second in the league among QBs in rushing touchdowns, but it's a good surprise.

[mav1234]

2 hours ago, Joe Bear said:

His build will always make that a concern in some way, but he has to have this added element of his game to be successful. I was surprised to see he finished second in the league among QBs in rushing touchdowns, but it's a good surprise.

Whenever a QB is a threat to run it in in the red zone it makes it a lot harder to defend. Bryce is elusive and surprisingly fast, and I think he's adjusting to NFL defenders speed. I'm not too worried personally about long term sustainability because he doesn't have hardly any designed runs - his scrambles are just that. 

It's kind of crazy he has as many rushing TDs as he did. His total 2024 TDs at 21 is the most by a Panthers QB since Cam in 2018, and he did that in 12 starts. 

Edited 25 minutes ago by mav1234

[t96]

3 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

Nailed it.

Hopefully Bryce can surpass that level, but if not we can’t get stuck down a path with him which I fear may happen