Dave Canales is making the upcoming decision with Bryce Young a lot easier for the Panthers and a playoff berth would go a long way
Time is ticking for Bryce Young’s 5th-year option.
The Carolina Panthers have been one of the league’s top stories this year, something that was magnified in Week 13 after knocking off the NFC-leading Los Angeles Rams in easily their biggest win of the season and credit goes to head coach Dave Canales and quarterback Bryce Young.
The Panthers are knocking on the door of clinching a playoff berth for the first time since 2017 with four games left to be played this season, including two games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that could easily decide the NFC South race.
No one expected this out of the Panthers this season and it’s a testament to the forward progress this team has made in the second season of the Canales-Young partnership. And if all continues to go as played, it’ll set up for an easy decision for the Panthers’ front office.
Time is ticking for the Panthers to make a decision on Bryce Young’s 5th-year option
Once the 2025 season comes to a close, the Panthers will have a few short months before having to decide whether or not to pick up Young’s 5th-year option on his rookie contract (valued at $26.5 million) and that time will come sooner than you’d think.
This season, Young has had some highs of highs and lows of lows. His record-breaking performance against the Atlanta Falcons has been the highlight of the season but he’s also had more than a few multi-turnover outings that led to losses for the entire team.
Looking at it more broadly, no quarterback has played with the revolving door on the offensive line Young has dealt with this season while still working to develop his chemistry with the young pass catchers in this offense. Despite all of that, Young recorded his 11th career game-winning drive last Sunday.
On a week-by-week basis, it’s clear Canales is starting to trust his quarterback more and more to make plays when it matters most, even if the offense is centered around the run game. Young, in return, is largely delivering in those moments.
That game-winning drive stat is why ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler believes the decision to pick up the option will be exercised by the Panthers next spring and it’s something that has given the organization the most confidence going down that path with Young.
“It’s the consistency of play and the thing that I appreciate the most about Bryce is regardless of the moment, regardless of the time in the game or the score, when I put the ball in his hands, he stays the same,” Canales explained. “He stays even. His eyes are in the right place and then he executes the play and finds his best available receiver. And, and that’s the part that I love just being able to count on with Bryce.”
This team has high confidence in Young being the guy and leader for this team beyond 2025 but it’s a tricky situation for the front office to be in. As Fowler added, it’s risky to shell out a $50+ million contract to a quarterback that isn’t a sure-fire Top-10 player at his position, something teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, and Miami Dolphins learned the hard way.
But for Young, he can easily make an argument to match those deals if he leads this team into the playoffs and has another successful season in 2026. Time will tell, but in regards to the 5th-year option, Young and Canales have made that an easy decision to make after this season.
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