Bryce Young entered the Monday night game against the 49ers with a chance to push Carolina into first place in the NFC South. But he ended walking out of Levi’s Stadium with a 20-9 loss. More concerning for the quarterback was the performance, which reopened issues critics have been voicing all season.
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The Panthers quarterback was subpar at best. He finished with 169 passing yards, two interceptions, and just one touchdown. That was a stark fall from the franchise-record 448 yards he threw last week in the overtime win at Atlanta.
It’s this kind of extreme swing from historic highs to momentum-killing lows that has analysts questioning Young right now. Most prominent of those questions: Is he a franchise QB? For Emmanuel Acho, the answer to that question is clear.
“He’s too inconsistent to be a franchise quarterback,” Acho said on the latest episode of Speakeasy, before laying out the numbers that, in his view, make it impossible to put Young among the elites.
“This season, we’re about 12 weeks in, and he hasn’t had back-to-back 200 passing yard games. How can I call you a franchise quarterback if you haven’t had back-to-back games with 200 yards?” asked the analyst.
Acho went beyond the stat sheet, too, pointing out the unpredictable roller-coaster that has defined Young’s 3rd year at Carolina.
Last week it was 446 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions… One of the best quarterback outings in the NFL this season. The week before that: 124 yards, no touchdowns. And now, against the 49ers, a painful return to the bottom of the curve, including a brutal red-zone pick on first-and-goal at the one.
“The problem with Bryce Young is too Jekyll and Hyde… How do you go from no touchdowns and two interceptions in the previous two games cumulatively… then you have three touchdowns, no interceptions, and 400 yards… then you have one touchdown, two interceptions tonight?” Acho said.
For Acho, like many others, Young’s ceiling is undeniable. But the issue is that the floor shows up just as often. And franchise quarterbacks, he argues, cannot have that volatility.
Co-host of the show, LeSean ‘Shady’ McCoy, was equally critical. “Yeah, I hate that you’re right,” he admitted, echoing every frustration Panthers fans felt watching the offense stall possession after possession.
“He’s not consistent enough to put him on that level of a franchise. A franchise quarterback is a guy that’s going to make $200–300 million… and I don’t think he’s that,” McCoy, a 2x-Super Bowl winner, bluntly said.
Like Acho, McCoy’s biggest concern hovered around Young’s reliability. “If the defense isn’t doing well, if the running game isn’t doing well, I can count on you. He don’t do none of that,” he said.
To Young’s credit, he didn’t deflect blame after the loss against the 49ers. “First and foremost, starts with me… Have to do a better job of making things go… It’s no one’s fault but mine,” he said.
And that’s where the 6-6 Carolina Panthers sit now. They have a young quarterback with all the talent in the world, a team still in the NFC South race, and very little margin for error. After all, as Acho and McCoy both warned, the NFL isn’t a patient league.
And if Young wants to change the narrative, consistency should be his target on game days. If not, he will be replaced. Simple as that.
