Thoughts on Bryce Young’s breakout performance, Christian McCaffrey’s MVP-like year

There are no participation ribbons handed out in the NFL. Each loss has the weight of 4.8 defeats in the NBA and 9.5 letdowns in MLB. But when a team is 2-13 and has no top pick to cling its hope to next offseason, the search for sliver linings is necessary to avoid completely falling into the abyss.

The Panthers know their season is sunk. Most of the football folks at Bank of America Stadium probably don’t feel all that secure (nor should they). But the past two weeks have provided fans with something to look forward to when the next crew takes hold of the ship.

Bryce Young’s big game was a needed next step

Bryce Young led the Panthers to a gritty comeback win against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 15. He nearly led a game-tying field-goal drive — in just 19 seconds — Sunday against the Green Bay Packers after coming back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit at home.

In the second half against the Packers, Young completed 16 of 21 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns for a 136.8 passer rating. The switch has seemingly been flipped on for April’s first overall pick, and the results have been encouraging.

Last week, in this Kaye’s Takes column, I emphasized the need for Young to have a breakout performance during the home stretch, regardless of the result on the scoreboard. At the time, Young hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass in four consecutive games and hadn’t eclipsed the 250-yard passing yard mark all season.

Sunday, against the Packers, Young — despite a couple of early hiccups — looked like a franchise quarterback.

Young completed 23 of 36 passes (63.9%) for 312 passing yards and two touchdowns in all. He avoided turnovers as he led five scoring drives and posted a season-high passer rating of 110.0. He showed fluid mobility in the pocket as he avoided sacks and picked up 17 rushing yards on four carries, which included his first QB sneak that converted a fourth-and-1 opportunity.

To summarize, Young delivered the necessary breakout game. It took a lot longer than any of us expected (or fans probably wanted), but sometimes quarterbacks need time to find themselves. The same can be said for the pieces around that quarterback.

While the defense finally offered up a letdown performance after weeks of keeping the team somewhat competitive in games, Young and his crew of much-maligned offensive linemen and weapons finally looked like a worthwhile NFL offense.

Following the 33-30 loss to the Packers, the Panthers weren’t celebrating or singing Christmas carols. But there was a sense of optimism in the air, as veteran players showered Young with praise and acknowledged the performance of oft-scrutinized offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. The Panthers never thought they’d be NFL bottom-dwellers, and even after the swift firing of former head coach Frank Reich in Week 13, they still believe they have the talent to be a productive NFC South squad in the near future.

However, most of those “believers” won’t be here next season. A new regime is on its way, in some form or fashion, and that group will certainly make full-scale changes. But for Young and teammates like wideout Adam Thielen, guard Cade Mays and tight end Tommy Tremble — among others — this performance showed that the cupboard isn’t completely bare on their side of the ball.

Grading Panthers’ shootout loss to Packers: Bryce Young, DJ Chark put on a show in defeat

The Panthers have two games remaining on their schedule: Jacksonville (a team falling apart at the seams) and Tampa Bay (a team that could be scary during a postseason run). Carolina has the opportunity to ruin their respective winters, and for the first time, it feels like spoiler mode has been truly activated.

If Young and his cohorts on offense can build off their Week 16 performance — even though it came in a loss — and the defense can rebound, the Panthers could put together some impressive tape for the next group of decision-makers. And while it seems improbable, winning their final two games, could prevent them from handing the first overall pick back to Chicago in April.

McCaffrey’s MVP-like year highlights Carolina’s compounded errors

Former Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey has become a legitimate MVP candidate after putting up 1,395 rushing yards (career high), 537 receiving yards and 21 total touchdowns (career high) this season for the NFC-leading San Francisco 49ers (11-4).

The Panthers traded McCaffrey to the 49ers last year for 2023 second-, third- and fourth-round picks, as well as a 2024 fifth-round pick.

At the time, the Panthers were 1-5, just one game into the interim head coach tenure of Steve Wilks. The move was made with the understanding that the Panthers were in need of a youth movement and weren’t going anywhere offensively, even as McCaffrey showed off his bell-cow talent.

The return the Panthers got for McCaffrey — while still polarizing among fans — was fine. Remember, this is a league where only one running back — Panthers backup tailback Miles Sanders (cue Sarah McLachlan’s tunes) — got a long-term contract in free agency. For a league that doesn’t value running backs, the Panthers got pretty good value for McCaffrey and his monster contract.

Still, trading for future assets leads to a long-term grading system. It matters what you use those assets for, and as of now, it looks like the Panthers have spent most of that return on compounded mistakes.

The Panthers traded the second-round pick from the 49ers to the Bears in the blockbuster move-up to No. 1 in March. They traded No. 61 to avoid dealing No. 39 (Carolina’s original second-round pick), which offered the opportunity to gain more picks as a highly valued asset.

However, instead of using No. 39 to gain more picks with a limited supply at hand, the Panthers selected wideout Jonathan Mingo, who has been outplayed this year by fifth-round pick Puka Nacua and third-round picks Josh Downs and Tank Dell (who had his rookie year cut short at 11 games), among several others.

Mingo is 15th in receptions and 14th in receiving yards among rookies (including tight ends and running backs), and despite his 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame, he has yet to score a touchdown this season, even as he has started in 13 of the 14 games he’s appeared in.

After not trading back and selecting Mingo, the Panthers found themselves in a pass rusher dilemma.

Pass rushers were coming off the board quickly — including BJ Ojulari, who was selected two picks after Mingo — and the Panthers wanted to get a young guy to pair with Brian Burns. So, they traded up using the 49ers’ third- (No. 93) and fourth-round (No. 132) picks to select DJ Johnson, who was a healthy scratch for the first three games of his rookie season.

The Panthers, by the way, didn’t have their own third-round pick (No. 76) because they traded up for quarterback Matt Corral in the previous draft. Corral would ultimately be cut by the Panthers this past summer without playing in a single regular-season game for the franchise. Carolina had to trade up because their original pick wasn’t in their inventory (Johnson was selected at No. 80), compounding the mistake of going up for Corral the year before.

While Johnson has had his moments on special teams, he has yet to register a sack or a QB hit in 11 games (three starts). Johnson, who turned 25 in October, was viewed as a Day 3 project by quite a few analysts, but was said to be a fit Ejiro Evero’s defensive scheme, despite his lack of outside linebacker experience.

That said, the McCaffrey aftermath isn’t the only example of a compounded mistake during the Scott Fitterer era under owner David Tepper. For instance, turning down two first-round picks (and more) for Burns and failing to sign him to a contract extension more than a year later is another.

Burns isn’t having a good year statistically by his standards — and in theory, he’s lost a lot of negotiating leverage — but the Panthers should have been prepared for his demands after word leaked out that they turned down a mega-offer at the 2022 trade deadline. Fair or not, making one decision and letting the rest of the situation linger isn’t a particularly good look — especially when it involves one of your only blue-chip level players.

The lesson here is that asset management needs to improve next offseason and beyond for the Panthers, no matter who is in charge.

The Panthers went on a 6-5 run with Wilks after trading McCaffrey, who has flourished in San Francisco (now with Wilks as defensive coordinator). The trade made sense at the time, but given the way the 49ers have utilized McCaffrey and the Panthers have used the assets obtained for him, San Francisco is looking like Vince Carter in the dunk contest with how big of a win that trade was for the NFC West squad.

Derrick Brown deserves a Pro Bowl nod

With Christmas in full swing to start the week, we’ll take a break from the Panthers mailbag in Kaye’s Takes and discuss a pressing topic for the masses: Derrick Brown’s Pro Bowl candidacy.

The 2020 first-round pick has been the Panthers’ best player this season. Brown is Pro Football Focus’s fourth-highest graded interior defensive lineman (88.4), and he leads that entire position group in stops (44) entering Week 17. The former Auburn Tiger has put together a career-best output in nearly every statistical category under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and defensive line coach Todd Wash.

Brown’s defensive teammates have marveled at his efficiency, and how his play has made their jobs easier. Some even joke that Brown is playing so well that he is making their performances less apparent in the box score.

While Brown only has one sack on the season, he’s still been an effective pressure player. Through 15 games, he has produced a career-high 11 QB hits. He also has 24 hurries, according to PFF. Those numbers go along with five pass breakups and an interception.

Why Panthers’ Derrick Brown is dominating his competition and only getting better

Fan voting ended on Monday. And while most non-Panthers fan voters probably avoided checking off Brown’s name because of his lack of sack numbers and Carolina’s last-place record, coaches and players — who make up two-thirds of the vote — should choose their picks more wisely. Brown has had a dominant season and deserves to go to Orlando for the all-star event.

He also deserves a massive contract extension, but that’s probably not going to come into play until the season is completed.