Bryce Young Stat Pours Cold Water on Clutch Narrative for Panthers QB

Bryce Young has come to be known as a clutch performer in the NFL. The Carolina Panthers QB has 12 game-winning drives in his career, and that's more than any quarterback in the sport during the three-season span.

Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Jared Goff are next with 10 each, so it's elite company that Young is ahead of. When the Panthers are losing and Young has the ball, it often just feels like he's going to will them to a win.

That's one of Young's strengths, his clutch performance. But a new stat suggests that Young might not be quite as clutch as we all believe, which is a huge blow to his case to be the franchise guy.

Bryce Young's clutch performance isn't quite as elite as we thought

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) throws in front of head coach Dave Canales | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Bryce Young shows up when it matters. The Panthers can rest easy knowing their quarterback will clutch up for them. Just keep the game close, and Young will take over. He's done it time and again, with 12 game-winning drives in three seasons despite missing seven games in that time.

But the actual stats don't quite back that up. Yes, game-winning drives are good, but they're really a team stat, just like QB wins is a team stat. A good example is the game-winning drive over the Green Bay Packers.

Young was fine on that drive, and he did audible into the decisive run, but it was Rico Dowdle that got them into field-goal range, not really the quarterback. But it went down as a big feather in the cap for Young.

best QBs when losing in the 2nd half

1. Matthew Stafford
2. Jordan Love
3. Bo Nix
4. Josh Allen
5. Caleb Williams
6. Brock Purdy
7. Patrick Mahomes
8. Drake Maye
9. Mac Jones
10. Dak Prescott
11. Baker Mayfield
12. Bryce Young
13. Tyler Shough
14. Justin Fields
15. Sam Darnold…
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 16, 2026

The advanced stats favor Young, but they don't paint him as one of the most clutch quarterbacks in the sport. Based on EPA/attempt in the second half when losing, Young is the 12th-most clutch quarterback in the NFL.

That's still pretty good considering he's currently more clutch than Sam Darnold, Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Jared Goff, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Herbert, and C.J. Stroud. Those are really good QBs.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) looks on after the game | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

It's also nice to see considering that Young's overall EPA numbers are generally not very good. The advanced analytics don't love him, so to see him rank well in this metric is nice. It just puts to bed those "most clutch QB" narratives.

Because Young's overall performance is fairly middling, the clutch narrative was certainly a big reason he was on his way to a rather large extension. If the underlying clutch metrics aren't quite as good, then it makes the decision the Panthers must make a little harder.

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