NFL Playoff Picture Takes Shape: Panthers’ Resurgence with Bryce Young Makes Them a Legitimate Contender

The Carolina Panthers were seen as a team that was going nowhere fast heading into the 2024 season. The wider overall consensus was that the team’s front office had made a significant blunder by trading away assets to secure the number one in the 2023 NFL Draft and using that premium selection to add Bryce Young instead of CJ Stroud, who has looked like a borderline MVP in the first two years of his career.

However, that narrative has flipped entirely during the 2024 season. After getting off to a slow start, Young has made shocking improvements and has emerged as a bonafide top-15 quarterback in the league.

Young’s performance is sustainable, and the Panthers could reap the benefits next season. Let’s look at four reasons why this team could start making noise in the postseason sooner than expected.

Xavier Legette

Every star quarterback needs a running mate at the receiver position that they can trust to make big plays. Legette is quickly turning into that guy in Carolina, and Young has started relying more heavily on the young receiver down the stretch. Legette has strong hands and an ability to create separation and adjust to the ball in the air.

Legette has decent height and weight measurements, but he really excels with his speed. The talented rookie has hit a top speed of more than 22 miles per hour already this season and sometimes looks like a rookie version of Tyreek Hill on the field.

We saw what Hill could do for a quarterback in Kansas City as he helped Patrick Mahomes develop into a superstar. While Mahomes has proven to be great with any receiving corps, he had a special ability to make big plays by throwing the ball to Hill deep down the field and letting the speedster make big plays.

Young isn’t anywhere near the level of quarterback that Mahomes is, especially in terms of explosiveness and big play ability. But he’s certainly making impressive progress, even if he isn’t near Mahomes’ tier of superstars.

Regardless of Young’s ultimate ceiling, though, having a deep threat like Legette, who can take the top off a defense with, ease is quite the luxury for any signal caller. That’s especially true for a young quarterback who is still growing into his own as a player and as a leader.

Young has plenty of intangibles

Speaking of leadership, that’s one thing that Young has always exhibited. No matter what else is going on and how he performs on the field on any given Sunday, maturity, and leadership are two things Young has in spades. That’s one of the reasons that the team felt comfortable taking him with the first overall selection in the draft ahead of guys such as Ohio State’s CJ Stroud and Kentucky’s Will Levis.

Young’s leadership will provide a steady hand while the team goes through the inevitable ups and downs while developing into a postseason contender chasing conference championships and Super Bowl rings.

The Panthers are gaining valuable experience

While Young has shown impressive improvement, no one individual player can make that much of a difference and boost a team to contender status, regardless of how good they are.

However, there is another important reason why the Panthers will be able to build on their experience next season and make the jump from a team drafting in the top-8 into a credible playoff contender.

What will really propel the team to new heights is the experience that they are gaining this season. The star quarterback from Alabama and his teammates are starting their careers together and will continue growing alongside each other for many seasons to come. Young is learning how to maximize the skill sets and abilities of Legette and his other upcoming playmakers.

The team’s offensive linemen are learning how to work together as well as they look to keep Young upright, and the quarterback is learning what his line’s strengths and weaknesses are, too. This will help the line make better blocking decisions to keep pressure off of Young.

This experience will also help the former Alabama star make better decisions as far as when to stay in the pocket, when to bail and throw on the run, when to tuck and run to gain yardage himself, and when to just throw the ball away in order to live to fight another day.

The Panthers have another top-10 pick

While the Panthers have gained valuable experience, this season was all about the team working their way through the steep learning curve that is development at the professional level. They have taken their lumps this year, and their record reflects that.