After a lowly rookie campaign, Bryce Young may be praying that tomorrow takes him higher.
And tomorrow is this upcoming season, where the second-year quarterback will be facing quite a bit of pressure to rebound for the Carolina Panthers. In fact, Young—in a recent list from Pro Football Focus analyst Sam Monson—was named amongst nine other players who are facing the most pressure in 2024.
Monson writes of Young’s rough 2023:
What makes his season’s struggles even more damning is the outstanding year fellow rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud had for the Texans. As the other real contender for the No. 1 overall pick, Stroud and his success will draw obvious questions about whether Carolina made the right decision at the top of the 2023 draft.
The Panthers will hope that the team around Young was a far bigger factor in his failure as a rookie than his ability, and Year 2 is when he needs to prove them right.
As Monson notes, PFF’s metrics showed that Young recorded 22 turnover-worthy plays—tied for the ninth-most in the NFL. He also faced an “astronomical” pressure-to-sack ratio of 24.5 percent, the most amongst all quarterbacks with at least 10 appearances.
