Bryce Young is showing significant improvement for Panthers. The next step is figuring out how to win.

The Carolina Panthers’ biggest problem at the start of the season seems to be solving itself. It took far longer than anyone had hoped, but a year after trading a boatload of assets to get the No. 1 pick and select Bryce Young, the quarterback has finally looked like an NFL-caliber player over the past few weeks. The disastrous lows haven’t been a part of his game recently, and he gave them a real chance to beat the Chiefs and the Buccaneers, two teams with, at minimum, playoff aspirations. That’s a massive step up from where Young has largely been during his NFL career, and he’s playing his way toward earning the Panthers’ quarterback job in 2025. That’s a big deal because, whew, this team has a lot of needs, and if they don’t need to spend the assets on QB, they can spend them elsewhere.

It’s easy to see why people are so excited and genuinely happy for what Young has accomplished recently — his career start was legitimately historically bad. Prior to his benching following Week 2, Young had thrown for 3,122 yards, 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in his first 18 starts. That was a paltry 173 passing yards and less than a passing touchdown per game. That’s just not viable production for a rebuilding NFL team that is trying to figure out what pieces they have that are worth keeping for the future. Since then, Young’s production has become acceptable and he’s made some big-time throws to give the Panthers a chance to win. That’s all they could’ve asked for at this point in the season and can turn their attention to other parts of their roster.

And they desperately need to! Part of the reason why they were unable to turn Young’s solid performances the past two weeks into wins is because the other parts of their team are just not there yet — particularly on defense. This week, Buccaneers running backs Bucky Irving and Rachaad White ran for 228 yards and a touchdown on just 36 carries in Tampa Bay’s 26-23 overtime win. Those are two promising players, but they aren’t exactly LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Turner from the mid-2000’s. The Panthers’ defense is a serious problem right now and will severely limit their ceiling moving forward, even if Young continues to ascend to a winning quarterback. Getting star defensive tackle Derrick Brown back from injury at some point will help, but they clearly need a lot more than just him back in the lineup.

This is where Young’s improvement is really impactful for the direction of this franchise. According to Tankathon, the Panthers are projected to pick fifth in the 2025 NFL Draft. If they don’t have to spend that on the upcoming, potentially weak, quarterback class, they can start tending to their defense and skill player depth that would at least build a sturdier frame for the team to continue to build on. This is widely known as a long, long-term rebuild, but it appears they can at least push the quarterback problem off for another year.

Things could change if Young reverts back to his ways prior to his benching, but let’s not cast those bad thoughts into the air. He’s playing much improved football that will allow the Panthers to move onto other parts of their roster that are a big reason as to why they’re 3-9 right now. There’s still a ways to go before Young should be considered a franchise quarterback, but this is a good start.