Bryce Young Projected to Be Benched by Panthers in Year 4

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales made waves when he said Bryce Young was the franchise quarterback "right now." It is true that Young is the franchise QB now, but his contract has an end. Without an extension, Canales was likely just saying that he is the current QB.

Still, it seemed as if Canales wasn't projecting much confidence in Young. The rest of the coach's quotes were confident, but the headlining quote seemed to suggest that Young is on thin ice for the 2026 season.

CBS Sports analyst Douglas Clawson agrees and even predicts that Young will hit the bench (for the second time in his career) this season.

Bryce Young shockingly predicted to get benched by Panthers

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) during the third quarter | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Panthers face a really daunting first-place schedule. What's perhaps even more troublesome is that they face the league's most difficult slate of opposing defenses. By DVOA, the average rank of each defense on the schedule is higher than what any other offense has to face.

There's no other way to put it; that's really bad news for Bryce Young. A good fourth year in the league would net him a lucrative extension. Unfortunately, the deck has really been stacked against him this year.

"Bryce Young has slowly taken steps forward in the Panthers offense, capped by going worst to first in the abysmal NFC South last season. Perhaps the improvements have been exaggerated, though," CBS Sports' Douglas Clawson wrote.

Clawson pointed out that while the performance was better, Young still rankd 28th in the NFL in EPA per dropback. "He will be benched in 2026 when he is unable to take Carolina to the next level," the analyst predicted.

He added, "Patience will run thin, especially after the team made two big signings on defense in free agency (Devin Lloyd and Jaelan Phillips). The team picked up his fifth-year option this offseason, but the Panthers' brash owner David Tepper won't put up with a step backward from Young."

It's certainly a bold prediction, which was the goal of the article. It's also not really based in reality. There are a few main reasons that Young won't be benched by the Panthers this year.

First, he has yet to really regress at all during his career. It hasn't been linear, but his growth has been real. There's nothing to suggest he's suddenly going to be bad enough to sit down. A slight improvement might not be what Carolina's hoping for, but that's what he's done every year, and it would not warrant a benching.

Second, at this stage of his career with the Panthers, there's no reason to try to salvage him. It is essentially sink-or-swim right now. In year two, it made sense to reset him. Now, that probably wouldn't help.

And if he sinks, the Panthers are in trouble anyway, so there's no reason to try to see if Kenny Pickett or Haynes King can save the season. They'll need a new franchise QB anyway, so being good this year wouldn't help.

Third, and speaking of those backups, they're just not very good. There's really not a world where either Pickett or King represent an upgrade. Pickett has been on five teams so far for a reason, and King showed out in the Hall of Fame Game, which is not indicative of actual NFL competition.

The Panthers have to figure out if Young can be the guy worth a long-term extension (and how much), and benching him will not solve a single one of the problems they face.

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