Bryce Young Named Starter As Panthers Put Young Weapons to the Test
The Panthers match up against division rival Saints in Week 9. It will be a battle of basement dwellers in the NFC South. The Panthers have struggled with consistency at QB. Bryce Young will be the Panthers’ starting QB for Week 9 while Andy Dalton continues to recover from a thumb injury.
Young went 24-for-37 passing in Week 8 versus a tough Broncos’ secondary. The second-year QB accounted for the Panthers’ two TDs passing, just the third time in his career throwing for multiple TDs in a game. The recipients of those touchdown passes were Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker. They will be the likely target leaders rest of season as they were in Week 8 (Legette 7, Coker 6). Don’t sleep on David Moore in deeper leagues. Moore quietly ran the most routes on the team and was the recipient of five targets. Temper expectations for the Carolina passing offense, however. Young has only thrown for more than 300 yards once in his career as starter.
Another storyline to watch is in the Panthers’ backfield. Jonathon Brooks is slated to make his debut soon as he comes off the ACL tear he suffered late in his final college season at Texas. The second round rookie is unlikely to be activated for Week 9, however, so Chuba Hubbard will continue to lead the Panthers backfield. Hubbard has been serviceable on decent volume. He is No. 9 with 111.6 Weighted Opportunities and No. 5 with 593 rush yards on the season. He has four rushing TDs, and faces a Saints D that ranks in the bottom quarter of the league stopping the run.
– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb