The 2025 season was a great one for Bryce Young. Facing huge expectations after a slow start to his career following his first overall selection in the 2023 NFL draft, Young put up career-best numbers across the board. He threw for 3,011 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions while completing 63.6% of his passes. It was a tremendous season of growth for the young quarterback and, most importantly, it resulted in his first career playoff appearance.
There’s no denying it was a very successful year in Carolina and served as a strong response to the harsh criticism surrounding Young’s game. Speaking to Sports Illustrated on Radio Row at Super Bowl LX on behalf of Bounty, Young was asked if he had a response to anybody who might have written him or the Panthers off in the early goings of the year. The young signal-caller offered a classy message in response.
“I don’t individually, or us as a team, we don’t pay a lot of attention to outside noise,” Young said. “I’m a fan of sports as well so I’m grateful for anyone who has an opinion. That means they care and support, which I appreciate. But for us we (can) only afford to focus on the task at hand, focus on us and what we’re doing in the building. I appreciate that challenge.”
A measured response from the 24-year-old QB. There was a lot of chatter around Young following his struggles to begin his career and plenty wondered if he already reached bust status as a former No. 1 pick. That noise has since quieted thanks to his breakout year and the undeniable success of qualifying for the playoffs.
It wasn’t a perfect season, of course. The Panthers went 8-9 and fumbled multiple opportunities to clinch the NFC South, instead only winning the division thanks to the Falcons beating the Saints in Week 18. Young had a few rough performances mixed in there. And when the playoffs finally did start he completed only 52.5% of his passes in a 34-31 loss to the Rams.
But the team was competitive, truly competitive, for the first time in many years and broke a seven-year playoff drought. Young played a huge role in making that happen and gave fans plenty of reasons for optimism.
The future is looking bright in Carolina.
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LIAM MCKEONE
Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.
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