Film Session: Bryce Young's 2024 Season
Bryce Young’s rookie season was an absolute disaster.
Not all of it was his fault. It’s tough to play the position when the pass rush is on you instantly and your receivers can’t create quick separation.
Still, that didn’t mean the pressure on Young wasn’t mounting heading into year 2. He needed to have a good season and at least show some promise as the future of the franchise. Otherwise, Carolina likely would have been looking for different options at the position heading into 2025.
Then, he was benched after 2 games.
Many saw it as the Panthers making an early decision to move on from Young. I saw it as a chance to give him a bit of a mental reset.
And boy did he reset, because Young was a different player when he came back 6 weeks later.
Below, I take a deep dive into Young’s 2024 season. The first part will cover those first two games. The next will cover the rest of his season. In the end, you’ll see roughly 40 plays covering the following areas:
Week 1 vs. the Saints
Week 2 vs. the Chargers
Bouncing Back 6 Weeks later
Great Timing and Anticipation
Processing & Recognition
Ball Placement
Pocket Presence
Week 1 vs. Saints:
Young wasn’t quite as bad as the final score and his numbers indicated, but he was certainly off in this game. He played fast at times, wasn’t putting the ball where he wanted to, and just didn’t seem to see the field well.
His first throw of the season was intercepted, setting the tone:
It looked like Young was a little quick with his drop and desire to get this ball out of his hands. The timing of the play was off as Young set up to throw and his receiver was still a few steps from getting into his break. The result was a ball that was out before his receiver had a chance to react to it:
Young’s other interception came later in the game with the score out of hand. This was at a point in the game where he was just trying to make something happen. Either way, he didn’t put the ball where he wanted to, resulting in an interception:
Here’s one more miss from this game:
It’s not that Young should have completed this pass necessarily. It was a tight window. But it wasn’t a great throw. He didn’t put it in a spot where his receiver had a chance to make a play on the ball.
It wasn’t just erratic ball placement and playing fast that did Young in on this day. He didn’t see the field well, with this 3rd-and-6 serving as a great example.
The Saints brought more than the Panthers could handle. Young didn’t recognize the extra man, though:
The play didn’t have great hot answers, although the receiver chipping and then releasing to his right would have been the best option:
The point is, Young didn’t recognize it. He had no urgency in his drop and clearly didn’t account for that extra defender until it was too late.
This next play was in the 4th quarter with the score about 96-3. The Panthers faced a 4th-and-6. New Orleans brought the house and played cover-0 behind it. I think Young made the right decision, but you can see that his knee kind of buckled as he faded away from this throw. The ball sailed as a result:
I’ve got no problem with fading away from the throw. Often times against cover-0, quarterbacks will drop or drift as much as they can to buy time and then throw from an off-balanced position. But Young was kind of caught in between fading away and planting his back foot here.
Caught in between is a perfect microcosm for his performance in this one.
Week 2 vs. Chargers
Week 2 went much the same way as Week 1 did. Young wasn’t seeing the field well at all.
On this interception, he appeared to pre-determine that he was going to try to make this throw come hell or highwater. Watch him look left and stay there:
Young was trying to hit the wrap-in, but the linebacker underneath never widened. That forced Young to put this ball further inside than he wanted to. It didn’t help that the quarters safety to that side was ready to pounce on any in-breakers from #2. This play was dead from the jump. But Young forced it anyway.
Take another look from the end zone angle:
This was a 1st-and-10 in the 2nd-quarter too. There was no need to force that throw. This was probably one of those indicators to head coach Dave Canales that Young wasn’t seeing the field, reading things out, or doing what he was supposed to.
Then you have a play like this. Young looked left to the bendback/corner route from the #2 receiver. He stayed on it too long given the defender’s leverage. He probably should have looked at the in-breaker/over-route running across the field since they were playing cover-1. Instead, he held it and took the sack: