The one luxury and one unknown the Panthers have given QB Bryce Young this spring
The Carolina Panthers have given quarterback Bryce Young a lot to be excited about as the team’s spring activities begin.
Two things in particular stand out:
One is a “luxury,” as Young put it.
And the other is an unknown — at least, to those outside the building.
The luxury element Young was asked about during media availability on Tuesday morning involved having his best wide receivers back already in the fold at this point of organized team activities (OTAs). Young, after all, hasn’t been in such a position before. The team’s main two pass-catchers for the upcoming season have always been in flux at this point in the year.
Young was specifically asked about the return of Tetairoa McMillan — last year’s Offensive Rookie of the Year through whom the Panthers passing offense runs through — and widely considered No. 2 option Jalen Coker, who will be with Carolina through 2026.
Young was effusive in his answer.
“It’s a huge luxury for me, for us as a team, and that’s credit to them and the hard work that they’ve put in and the way that they’ve produced,” Young said of McMillan and Coker. “It just gives us that stability. It’s so much easier in the offseason when you have a plan, when you’re able to be player-specific in the things that we scheme and gameplan and want to work on for the offseason.
“For us, right now, in OTAs, when we have those conversations, they don’t have to be hypotheticals, which is definitely a luxury to have. So I think it allows us as a team to just be more specific, to dial stuff in. It’s a lot of great stability for me. So I’m super grateful.”
Young, whose fifth-year option is expected to be picked up by the Panthers within the next two weeks, was complimentary of the receiver room beyond McMillan and Coker as well. The 2023 overall No. 1 NFL draft pick said he spent some time in Charlotte working out with a crew of receivers, a group that included 2024 first-round pick Xavier Legette, Jimmy Horn Jr. and others. He also said he was “excited” to reunite with former Alabama teammate John Metchie III, who the Panthers signed in March.
“I’m excited for the receiver room in general,” Young said. “A lot of really talented guys. A lot of great players. A lot of young players. So it’s exciting. And I think for me, it’s really cool to watch that room develop for all of us as a unit: to continue to grow. And that’ll be what OTAs is all about.”
The unknown: A new play-caller
The other element that is a bit different for Young at this point in this offseason is that a new coach will be relaying the play calls.
Head coach Dave Canales announced in February that he’d be handing off play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Brad Idzik. Idzik and Canales have been longtime collaborators — pre-dating their time in Carolina — and Idzik has been the “architect” of the offense, Canales said, even if Canales has been the one sequencing the calls on game day.
Young said that such news is exciting and that he has “all the confidence in the world in Brad” — and that “he’s been a big reason for everything that’s happened,” specifically referencing the Panthers’ NFC South title season and playoff appearance last year.
“Honestly, I think when you get a new play-caller, you kinda never know,” Young said. “When it’s live, and the bullets are flying, you don’t really know what to expect. And I think I’m excited for that. Again, I’m excited to see what his spin is, what his personal thumbprint on the game is going to be, how he calls it. ...
“For me, it’s an exciting thing, kind of getting to see his cadence, see how he finds his own (way). We’re all behind him, and we know he’s going to do a great job, so we’re all excited.”
Despite these 2 changes, Bryce Young stays the same
Those two changes aren’t the only ones that will affect Young and the Panthers. The front office fortified the defense in free agency. The franchise still, of course, has an NFL Draft to take part in later this week — and the Carolina brass has left the door wide open for taking another wide receiver in the first round.
But to Young, who achieved career highs in completions (325), yards (3,275) and touchdowns (24) in 2025, there is something comfortably similar.
No amount of buzz about the team will shift his focus, he said.
“The expectations, or the opinions, the outlooks, whatever it be from the outside, that’s stuff that’s always gonna change,” Young said. “Stuff that you can’t control. ... I’ve kind of been (there) at all different stages throughout my career. So you’re used to it. (They) think one thing one day, something else the next.
“But something I’ve focused on is just building: us playing to our standard, us being able to attack everything day-by-day. We all have that mindset. For me, that’s really the only thing I concern myself with.”
