BryceYoung

News: 3 days agoHead coach Dave Canales told reporters Sunday that Young and the Panthers starters will play in Saturday's preseason opener against the Bills, Kassidy Hill of the team's official site reports.

Spin: Canales added that the starters will get about 10-to-20 reps in Buffalo. Young, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, is coming off the best year of his three-year career. Across 17 regular-season games in 2025, he completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,011 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions while adding 216 yards and two scores on 54 carries. The fifth-year option on Young's rookie contract was picked up for the 2027 season, and it looks like any contract negotiations between the 25-year-old quarterback and the Panthers won't take place until after the 2026 campaign.

ESPN Fantasy Projection: Young has yet to find his way to any sort of fantasy relevance during his first three NFL seasons. The 2023 No. 1 draft pick has yet to finish a season better than 20th in passing yards, 10th in rushing yards or 24th in fantasy points per game. Efficiency has been a problem, as last season's career-high 6.3 yards per attempt was barely up from 2024 and still among the worst in the NFL. Young's 47.6 QBR last season ranked 22nd among 28 qualified quarterbacks. Perhaps the 25-year-old will make a leap in top target Tetairoa McMillan's second season and Brad Idzik's debut as the offensive playcaller, but it will be asking a lot to expect QB1 production. Young is best viewed as a fringe QB2 in 12-team leagues.