It's 'Crunch Time' for This Carolina Panthers Player in 2026

We are officially a week away from the start of training camp for the Carolina Panthers. They will get an extra week due to playing the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL Hall of Fame preseason game. 

Coming off a 2025 season in which they won the NFC South, the Panthers still have some things to prove. They won the division with an 8-9 record and through some tiebreakers, so to earn some more respect they will need to have a big showing in 2026. 

They also enter this season with some big questions. 

Arguably the biggest storyline on the offensive side of the football is with quarterback Bryce Young. The former No. 1 overall pick from 2023 is entering his fourth season and while the Panthers picked up the fifth-year option, they have yet to make a decision on his long-term future. 

Young has shown some flashes of being a good quarterback but it just hasn't been consistent enough to make a decision. This season could be huge for Young in terms of proving that and as we go into training camp, it's one of the biggest storylines. 

Nick Shook of NFL.com wrote on the biggest storylines for each team in the NFC South and among the ones for the Panthers is that it's crunch time for Young. Here is what Shook wrote on Young: 

Three seasons into his NFL career, Bryce Young hasn't quite produced enough hard evidence to prove he's a franchise quarterback. Carolina's leadership will suggest otherwise publicly; in late April, general manager Dan Morgan said, “We really feel like the arrow is up with Bryce.” But that sentiment will change quickly if Young regresses in Year 4. In 2025, he showed signs of blossoming but wasn't consistent. In 2026, he needs to become more reliable on a weekly basis, an outcome that should be more likely after another offseason spent under coach Dave Canales. If this isYoung's breakout season, the Panthers will happily start discussing a long-term extension with the former No. 1 overall pick. But even if they don't say it publicly, they still need to be convincedYoung is headed in such a direction. Otherwise, the fifth year of his deal could spell the beginning of a transition.

It's hard to disagree with Shook's points. This really is crunch time for Young and the Panthers can't afford to wait around to find out if he is the guy or not. Instead, they need Young to prove it.

Either way, the 2026 season will be huge for the future of Young's career.