5 huge predictions for Bryce Young's 2025 season

This has been defined as a make-or-break year for Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young. It sure looks like he's going to make it, but what does that look like? What if Young really breaks out and turns things around? It could look something like the following, with five supremely bold predictions for the third-year QB.

4,000 passing yards

Bryce Young has never had a high volume of passing yards. His career high is 312, and he'd have to average over 235 per game to pass 4,000 yards. His career average is 176 (partially deflated due to a couple of mop-up appearances last season), so that would be a huge jump. Everything suggests a jump is coming, but that's a substantial one nonetheless.

But perhaps the best and most recent version of Young makes it possible. Following Carolina's bye week last year, Young averaged 226 yards per game, which would put him just below 4,000 yards. He also now has Tetairoa McMillan and a slightly better defense, so he might get a few extra possessions that help make the difference.

35:8 TD-INT ratio

This would be a fantastic year. Over 30 touchdown passes is a pretty good bar for QBs to clear, and doing it with fewer than 10 interceptions is also pretty impressive, but Young could do it. In the final three games of the 2024 season, Young tossed seven touchdowns to no interceptions.

Extrapolating that out over a full season and Young lands with almost 40 touchdowns. Of course, he's not going to play at that level every single week, and Chuba Hubbard and the backfield will be involved. But 35 is concievable, and Young rarely put the ball in harm's way after coming off the bench, so an interception every other game is not impossible either.

A 100 passer rating

For his career, Young has a passer rating of 82.2, which would require a major step up to get to 100 over a full 17-game season. However, he closed the 2024 season with three consecutive passer ratings above 100, and he had another in the 90s following his benching. If he can level out his play and keep up the good outings, 100 isn't such a crazy passer rating to imagine.

500 rushing yards

One thing Bryce Young did really well post-benching was use his legs. He wasn't running the read option like Cam Newton, but he did scramble effectively. He recorded 249 yards last season, and that includes his games on the bench or when he entered in relief. Assuming he doesn't drop that aspect of his game, 500 yards is a high bar, but one he can definitely reach.

MVP votes

Getting an MVP vote essentially means you have to be one of the 10 best offensive players in football. Last year, eight QBs made up that 10, so in essence, Bryce Young would have to be a top-10 QB to get a vote. He's not going to win the award, but if he can put it together and hit some of these other bold predictions, then some NFL voter is absolutely going to give him a vote, especially when considering the impressive turnaround he'd have to go through to go from benching to MVP votes in a year.

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