Three years ago, in his rookie season, Bryce Young looked bad.
Not just below average, but pretty much hopeless. Running for his life at the first sign of pressure, taking sacks at a concerning rate, and failing to throw the ball downfield with any consistency.
The situation became alarming for the Carolina Panthers, in large part because they had mortgaged a pile of assets to move up in the draft and select Young first overall in 2023. He was being outplayed not only by fellow rookie quarterbacks drafted after him but also Andy Dalton in the twilight of his career. Grim stuff.
Things didn't improve that season, nor did they in Young's second year when Dalton briefly took over the starting role. But late in 2025, something seemed to click for the former Alabama star.
And now, finally, Young is dealing. He leads the NFL in passing yards and has a sterling 9-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Although it's early and Young has faced some weak defenses, he appears to be completely removed from the tentative, scared player who seemingly threw checkdowns on every third-and-long. It's as if he flew to some secret clinic in Europe and received a swagger injection.
Young has become the most recent example of a young quarterback proving that development at the sport's most complicated position is unpredictable. He's also the latest argument for why the league as a whole should be more patient with its would-be stars.
Consider, for example, Cam Ward. The parallels with Young are significant. Despite being first overall draft picks, both players had plenty of doubters, and neither was blessed with the physical tools that lead scouts to predict can't-miss stardom. Ward has underwhelmed during his one-plus seasons in Tennessee. However, like in Young's early years, the team around him stinks. As is often the case with premier quarterback prospects, clubs that earn the chance to draft them typically offer little in the way of veteran help. Another similarity between the two: Ward is learning a new offensive system in Year 2 after the firing of his first head coach.
The parallels aren't so clear between Young and J.J. McCarthy. The former Michigan signal-caller wasn't drafted quite as high - 10th overall in 2024 - and as a result, he joined a talent-rich Vikings team built specifically to take advantage of the economics of a quarterback playing on a cheap rookie deal. McCarthy then lost his first season to injury, and he was a disaster upon taking over the starting job in his second year. The Vikings were so unimpressed that they gave up on him before the end of his third training camp. After placing him third on the depth chart to begin the season, Minnesota traded him to the Giants weeks later for a fifth-rounder.
The one way in which McCarthy does compare to an early-career Young is that he's been awful. McCarthy has looked overwhelmed, like he's unsure of what to do on a given play. Plus, it's never a good sign when a coach has more faith in a broken-down Carson Wentz to run the offense.
But the surprising thing about Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell bailing on McCarthy is that it happened so soon. He's only 23 and has started just 10 games. Young was a 22-year-old rookie, and his breakout is coming at 25 years old with 50 NFL games under his belt. These things can take time.
There are also plenty of other examples of highly drafted quarterbacks who took a while to find their groove. Sam Darnold won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks years after being deemed a bust while a member of the Jets. Daniel Jones carried a similar label as the Giants' starter but found new life with the Colts before a leg injury clouded his comeback story. Jameis Winston was a - OK, maybe not that one.
Time is the one thing Ward should have going for him. The Titans aren't winning anything anytime soon, so if he can get more experience without being judged too harshly - a big if, considering things are already pretty messy with the local media - he might be able to click in the same manner as Young.
McCarthy wasn't granted time in Minnesota, and that might be the lesson here. Having a loaded roster and a young quarterback on an inexpensive deal sounds great, but it leaves zero room for error. If the guy can't play well right away, he's a problem. What else is a team with a win-now roster to do but look elsewhere?
The Panthers can be grateful that they didn't have that problem. They stuck with Young at least in part because there was no point in moving on. And now that he's playing like a real NFL quarterback, they can say they saw it coming all along.
Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.
