Who Should I Start? Bryce Young or J.J. McCarthy

Thursday, February 26, 9:56 AM

Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales, who is giving up offensive play-calling this year, said that quarterback Bryce Young will "increasingly be able to change plays at the line" when he recognizes mismatches with the opposing defense, according to Kassidy Hill of Panthers.com. "I love the strides we've taken in terms of the operation, how he gets us up there, makes great calls, fixes our protection problems, finding solutions in areas where we've talked about to take advantage of coverages, takes advantage of different fronts for run plays, and just wanting Bryce to continue to grow in the ownership of those things," Canales said. It's the next step in the former first overall pick's development as he heads into his fourth year in the league. The 24-year-old showed improvement in 2025, completing a career-high 63.6% of his passes for 3,011 yards and 23 touchdowns, which were also career-highs. Young will need to take another step forward in 2026 to be thrown into the QB1 conversation in fantasy.