Bryce Young: Everything you need to know

The Panthers have officially exercised the fifth-year option on Young's rookie contract, Darin Gantt of the team's official site reports. The anticipated move will keep the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft under contract with Carolina through the 2027 season. The 24-year-old is coming off a career year in 2025, during which he set new highs in passing yards (3,011), TDs (23), completion percentage (63.6) and passer rating (87.8), among other other categories, over the course of 16 regular-season contests. Since then, the Panthers signed Kenny Pickett to back up Young and added deep threat Chris Brazzell in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft, providing Young a player with upside to fortify a WR corps that returns Tetairoa McMillan, Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette.

General manager Dan Morgan announced Tuesday that Carolina plans to exercise the 2027 team option on Young's contract this offseason, Darin Gantt of the Panthers' official site reports. Young's fifth-year option is projected to come in at around $26.5 million and will be fully guaranteed. While the Panthers' willingness to pick up the option represents some level of commitment to the 24-year-old signal-caller heading into his fourth NFL season, Young may need to make more dramatic strides in 2026 in order to land a long-term extension with Carolina. Young showed some modest improvement in Year 3, leading an 8-9 Panthers squad to its first NFC South title in a decade while directing six game-winning drives and completing 304 of 478 pass attempts for 3,011 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions to go with 216 yards and two scores on 54 games over 16 starts during the regular season. Though his 63.6 percent completion rate was a career-best mark, his 6.3 yards per attempt matched his average from his 2024 season. Young might have instilled some additional confidence in his prospects heading into 2026 with a respectable showing against the heavily favored Rams in the wild-card round this past weekend, when he led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives and accounted for 288 yards (264 passing, 24 rushing) in a 34-31 loss.

Young completed 21 of 40 passes for 264 yards, one touchdown and one interception in Saturday's 34-31 wild-card round loss to the Rams. He added three rushes for 24 yards and an additional score. The Panthers have tried to hide Young for significant stretches of the season, relying on a particularly run-heavy offense. However, the game plan was more aggressive Saturday, as he reached 40 pass attempts for only the third time in 17 total games this season. Young showed particular rapport down the field with Jalen Coker, connecting for gains of 52 and 37 yards. He also scrambled for a 16-yard touchdown just before halftime while delivering a seven-yard passing score to Coker to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. While Young's performance has been volatile throughout the early portions of his career, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Saturday morning that the Panthers are expected to pick up Young's fifth-year option this offseason. That makes it very likely that he will enter the 2026 season as Carolina's starting quarterback.