Panthers mailbag: Bryce Young’s potential payday, Jaelan Phillips’ sack number
The Carolina Panthers are on their summer break until they report to training camp in Charlotte on July 22.
But worry not: There’s still plenty to talk about.
That’s why The Charlotte Observer has reopened the mailbag and is answering fans’ questions about anything under the sun — including pressure stats, Bryce Young and some early training camp math.
Check those questions out below, with accompanying answers from Panthers reporter Alex Zietlow.
Bryce Young’s numbers in 2026
Via email, David asks: While a winning season is needed following a playoff appearance, what statistical benchmark would make 2026 a success for Bryce Young? His futures odds are suggesting a 3,000-yard and 20-touchdown season, which to me is a little low for a new QB contract.
Answer: Fair question, David. The short answer is ... well ... you sort of beat me to it. If Young can lead the Panthers to a winning season — and importantly, a second consecutive playoff appearance — it’d be hard to imagine 2026 isn’t deemed “successful” for him. No matter what people say, NFL front offices consider “wins” as QB stats. It’s probably the most powerful one, too, when it comes to contracts.
But let’s dive a little deeper for the sake of discussing what might make Young worthy of a big payday ahead of 2027.
Through three seasons in the league, Young is 14-31. His regular-season 17-game averages are nothing to overlook. According to Pro Football Reference, those “season-long” averages: 3,064 passing yards, 18 touchdowns, 11 interceptions. And several of the unflattering stats have tapered off a ton this last year, including sacks taken (27 in 2025, down from 62 in 2023).
Now, let’s say he takes another jump in 2026. What would a “success” look like? What ideally would it look like individually for Young to make it for the long haul?
To such a series of questions, I offer you two examples:
- Brock Purdy: The 49ers QB signed a five-year, $265 million ($53 million APY) contract in May 2025. He’d only played three years in the NFL at that point, same as Young. His 2024 leading into his contract discussion was tough — the 49ers went 6-9 with him as the starter, by vice of Christian McCaffrey missing close to the entire season due to injury and other notable absences. But when Purdy was asked to do more, he delivered: 3,864 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. This PLUS his previous impressiveness (in 2023) and proven playoff acumen (he led his team to a near-Super Bowl victory in February 2024) made his deal easier to swallow.
- Trevor Lawrence: The Jaguars QB signed a five-year, $275 million extension ahead of 2024 ($55 million APY). That, too, came three years after entering the league. His 2023 was good — 4,016 yards, 21 touchdowns, 14 interceptions — and it built off an even better 2022 in which he threw again for over 4,000 yards, notched a playoff win and even earned some AP votes for MVP.
Yes, every front office decision is different, and yes, every decision comes with different contexts. There’s no formula for who gets what. But if Purdy and Lawrence’s “contract-year” seasons offer a blueprint for Young, he’s going to need to add 800 more passing yards than he’s ever had in a single year to earn the big contract payday he’s looking for. It wouldn’t hurt for him to win a playoff game or two, either.
Jaelan Phillips and the sack-number question
Via email, Michael asks: Should there be a sack number goal for Jaelan Phillips, or are sack numbers overrated?
Answer: Sack numbers are not overrated. Far from it. Jaelan Phillips himself will tell you that, and he’ll add that he knows he’s capable of a double-digit sack season. I think 10 sacks in 2026 — considering the four-year, $120 million deal he signed in free agency — is a reasonable goal. That’s certainly what Phillips’ peers are making; Phillips, after all, is now a Top 10-paid (APY) EDGE rusher in the NFL, according to Over The Cap.
But what’s more important, and what gets at the heart of your question, is the Panthers’ pressure prowess as a whole.
Carolina finished the 2025 regular season 27th in sack percentage (5.34%) and tied-for-30th in team sacks with 30. If Phillips can not only get his due but also unlock others in the process — like second-year EDGE rusher Nic Scourton and fresh-off-back-surgery Pat Jones — then the Panthers might be in business.
Phillips should open up one-on-one opportunities for both of those players. Scourton, for example, was double-teamed on 34.6% of his pass rushes, according to Pro Football Focus. Phillips was doubled about that same amount in Philly and Miami last season, and those squads had 42 and 39 team sacks, respectively.
So sack number for Phillips? Sure, make it 10. Why not? But the big deal is that he should open up opportunities for others and lift the Panthers’ pressure stats across the board.
Some early Panthers training camp math
Via X, Greg asks: Curious on your thoughts on how many wide receivers and running backs they keep on the 53-man roster.
Answer: Training camp math has already begun! Woo-hoo! I’m going to be annoying here and say it’s a little too early to make such a prediction with certainty. But for now, I’ll predict the team keeps seven receivers and three running backs on the initial 53-man roster from training camp, as they have the two previous years under head coach Dave Canales.
Now, that might shift a bit because of various special teams considerations. Will they keep Brycen Tremayne because of his special teams acumen and blocking prowess as a wideout? Or will they opt to keep an extra tight end in Feleipe Franks for the same reasons?
What about at running back: Do they keep four because they want to see how AJ Dillon can impact the team in the short-yardage and give Trevor Etienne another season of pretty much exclusively being a punt returner?
These are all worthy questions that might impact my prediction closer to cut-down day in before Week 1. But for now, let’s just stay consistent with history: seven wideouts, three running backs.
A note on Brendan Sorsby
Via email, Robert asked (prior to the news that the NFL would not host a supplemental draft): I assume the Panthers don’t have an interest in Brendan Sorsby. But at some point do you take a flyer? Would the Panthers put a silent bid in for a fourth- or fifth-round pick?
Answer: I had a long answer at the ready to this query before the news broke on Tuesday afternoon that the NFL would not host a supplemental draft after all. There’s no use rehashing all of it because Sorsby won’t be able to play in the NFL this year.
But a quick word on it nonetheless:
Adding Sorsby to a roster would come with a lot of baggage after admitting that he bet on his own college football team in 2022. He’s the center of a very public, very loud, very one-sided public controversy — one that Big 12 officials, federal judges and fans everywhere have weighed in on.
Putting in a bid for Sorsby would be diametrically opposed to the preachings of Canales — who has spent this offseason building a QB room that is meant to elevate Young. The Panthers need to collect some data on Young, after all, and see if he’s worth the $50 million average-per-year salary that he could conceivably be up for after his fifth-year option is up in 2027. Why shift a delicate balance? Why needlessly rock a boat in this way?
The Panthers have never taken anyone in any supplemental draft before. Still haven’t. And they still wouldn’t have — even if one was held later this month.
