Insider: Panthers QB Bryce Young 'not close' to being 'best of the best'

Bryce Young still has some growth to undergo.

Dec 22, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) during pregame warmups against the Arizona Cardinals at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Carolina Panthers' best player might not be Bryce Young. Chuba Hubbard, Derrick Brown, Taylor Moton, and a handful of others might be better football players, but Young plays QB, which makes him the most important. It also basically makes him the best shot at winning MVP because that's practically a QB award exclusively now.

NFL.com's Eric Edholm picked Young as the most likely Panthers MVP candidate, but that says more about the roster around him than anything complimentary of the player himself. In fact, Edholm still believes there's almost no way Young even gets attention for the MVP award.

"The Panthers don't really have a non-QB worth nominating, and even Young feels like a reach. His play down the stretch last winter was exactly what you wanted to see from a player who had been benched following a terrible start to Year 2 -- Young performed with the sort of bravado and accuracy the Panthers yearned for when they traded up to take him No. 1," he began.

Edholm went on to readjust expectations, "Is Young at an MVP level yet? No, not close, but the franchise spent much of the offseason looking for ways to beef up his artillery. Carolina should be better, and Young is headed in the right direction, but it would take a pretty significant leap for him to be recognized among the very best of the best."

This isn't all that surprising. Even if (when) Young takes another step forward, he's still got a ways to go before he reaches that Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen territory. However, in those final few games last year, he was graded similarly to them, so perhaps it's not quite as far off as it seems.

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