• A really tough start to life in the NFL: Bryce Young has earned a 30.1 PFF grade through the first two weeks of the season, by far the worst mark of any quarterback in the NFL.
• But it's not all on him: Only 25.4% of the Panthers' rushing yards on running back carries have come before contact, the 12th-worst mark in the league. Their -0.278 EPA per play on those runs ranks fourth-worst in the NFL.
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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Earlier this week, the Carolina Panthers shook the NFL by making the bold and nearly unprecedented decision to bench quarterback Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Given Young’s struggles as a rookie and the lack of growth through the first two games of the 2024 season, the move makes some sense. However, the bigger storyline is that the Panthers’ problems run much deeper than just the quarterback position.
A change that needed to be made
Ultimately, the Panthers needed to make a change at the quarterback position heading into Week 3. Young has earned a 30.1 PFF grade through the first two weeks of the season, by far the worst mark of any quarterback in the NFL. He’s managed a positively graded play on just 11.1% of his dropbacks, while his negatively graded play rate has spiked to 26.4%.
It’s not even that he was putting the ball in harm's way at an alarming rate, with his 4.2% turnover-worthy play rate tied for 20th through two weeks. It’s more that he just wasn’t creating anything in the passing game, with no big-time throws so far in 2024.
Whether or not Bryce Young can rebound and become a successful starting quarterback for the Panthers, now is the right time for a reset. Giving him a break allows him to recalibrate and gives the Panthers a better shot at being competitive.
That said, Carolina's problems go beyond the quarterback position—especially in the trenches, where bigger issues still loom.
Bryce Young: Stable metrics and percentile ranks among quarterbacks since 2023
Problems up front on both sides of the ball
While the Panthers have been solid in pass protection — four of their five starters have earned pass-blocking grades above 75.0 — the same hasn’t been true of their run-blocking.
None of their five starters on the offensive line have earned a run-blocking grade above 75.0, with four of the five coming in under 65.0.
As a result, only 25.4% of the Panthers' rushing yards on running back carries have come before contact, the 12th-worst mark in the league. Their -0.278 EPA per play on those runs ranks fourth-worst in the NFL.
If it’s bad on the offensive line, it’s even worse on the defensive side of the ball.
The Panthers have just one player on the defensive line who has played 40 or more snaps and earned a PFF grade north of 60.0. That’s A’Shawn Robinson, whose 60.7 PFF grade through two weeks is tied for 41st among the 99 players at the position who have played 40 or more snaps.
By contrast, they have six defensive linemen, either on the edge or the interior, who have been on the field for 40 or more snaps and earned a PFF grade below 60.0.
That has led to them allowing positive EPA on 46.5% of their defensive snaps and being one of the worst defenses in the league at this early stage in the season.
Going from Bryce Young to Andy Dalton might help give the Panthers a boost on offense, but this roster will do well not to finish with one of the worst records in football in 2024, regardless of what they have at the quarterback position.
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