This NFL season is off the rails in the best possible way. Nothing is predictable, all of our assumptions are shattered, and somehow we’re sitting at the end of Week 6, with very real and intelligent conversations about whether Bryce Young is on pace to win the NFL MVP award.
The youngster has become the most talked about quarterback (at least in a positive way) in the league. He is on a four-year streak of perfect, error-free football, with two interceptions in the semifinals or a drive loaded as a real disappointment. Meanwhile, he’s moving the ball vertically better than anyone in the league, and is on pace to finish with 5,267 yards, 37 TDs and 7 INTs — all while finishing the Panthers as the best team in the NFC South, all behind.
That’s all there is to the resume, and here’s the article: Does all of this mean that Bryce Young is eligible for the MVP award if he continues this level of play? We now take this to the Football Court, where James Dator and Mark Schofield have presented our cases on both sides of this debate. Think of it as text-based Take it firstexcept for noise reduction, and 200% more dads are very concerned that our spring grass will survive before the first frost.
Bryce Young deserves MVP – James Dator
I admit it’s too early to be having this discussion, but I’d be hard-pressed to find anyone else up for the award this year. We know this is a QB-based award, which is ridiculous – but that’s the state of football.
What Bryce Young is doing for the Panthers is unprecedented. This season, Young has one of the worst offensive lines in football, allowing pressures on 44.5% of downs and averaging 1.9 seconds of pocket time. These are the death knells of a good passing offense, but Young’s imprecise process speed in the pocket still allows him to throw players open and generate big plays.
Young has completed 21 passes of 20+ yards this season, which is tied for 7th in the NFL — even though the six guys above him played one more game because of the Panthers’ early bye. Averaging more than 4 20+ yard passes per game when you don’t have a solid block in front of you is outrageous, but it’s still on every play.
When we talk about “significant,” it should be defined as doing something that another team in the NFL wouldn’t be able to do if they replaced that player. For example, the Bears have still won two of their three games without Caleb Williams, and in those two wins he has racked up over 375 yards of offense. Case Keenum has been able to run the offense well, Tyson Bagent less so – but there’s still an argument that Ben Johnson makes life easier for his teammates in the scheme.
With Bryce Young and the Panthers, no one could do what Young did. They have so many challenges trying to move the ball down the field that if they stick with another ball in their current role, they’ll be toast by throwing multiple picks a play. Instead, he’s not only setting franchise records in Carolina, he’s solidifying himself as one of the most popular players of the past two decades.
You know what 2011 Aaron Rodgers and 2013 Peyton Manning have in common? Both won the NFL MVP. Looking at the rest of Carolina’s schedule, he said Enough For the big games segment, Bryce Young has two games left against the Saints, two against Tampa Bay, the Falcons and the Steelers. We could see his numbers increase even more as the offensive linemen in particular get healthy for the Panthers – and if that’s all there is to it, he’s a lock to win this award.
Okay, but seriously? – Mark Schofield
At first he says we are even entertaining this conversation. It’s not about the rest of the NFL this season, it’s about the young man himself.
This is the quarterback who sat out the start of the 2024 season and replaced Andy Dalton. That we’re here, two calendar years later, taking his credentials as a potential MVP seriously says a lot about both Young himself, and the work the coaching staff has done with him and what the front office has done around him.
Being part of the conversation is one thing, winning it is another. Young has certainly done some impressive things this year (the quarterbacks linked above throwing for 280 yards and at least one touchdown in each of their first 5 games certainly puts him in some company), but look at who Young put up these numbers against:
Chicago Bears
Atlanta Hawks
Cleveland Browns
Detroit Lions
The Philadelphia Eagles
That those teams are a combined 15-14 is part of the story. Those are poor pass defenses, too. Looking at adjusted net yards per attempt, the Eagles are at 6.6 (11th worst in the NFL), the Lions at 7.0 (9th worst in the NFL) and the Bears clock in at 7.3 (6th worst in the NFL).
The Lions are allowing a league-worst 297.4 yards through the air, while the Falcons aren’t far behind fifth, allowing an average of 252.0 yards per game.
Again, not to disparage what this young man has done this year, but to give some context. Also, consider this chart, as generated by RBSDM, which plots the expected points added per return and the completion percentage above expectations:
Is the young man in a very good place? One would say being in a cluster with Patrick Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence and CJ Strode is good company.
But some quarterbacks on this chart are in better shape, including Brock Purdy and 2025 MVP Josh Allen.
Sticking with Purdy for a moment, and deciding on the most accurate point of play when under pressure. According to Pro Football Focus this season, Young has been loaded on 44.5% of his snaps, which is fourth in the NFL. This certainly gives some context to what the young man has done, and works to his advantage. On those plays, Young posted an adjusted completion percentage of 62.5%, threw and dropped and completed 42.2% of his passes for 510 yards, four touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.
Now let’s see what Purdy did when pressed. While he didn’t get the same pressure as Young — only dropping 32.3% of the time — he completed 53.7 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown in crunch time.
He also posted a 68.6% ACP when pressured this year, and the 49ers are 6-0 heading into Monday night’s game against the Washington Chiefs. So those pressure numbers may change after full charging is complete.
Is he young in the conversation?
Let us know which side you’re on in the comments. Is Bryce Young the NFL MVP through Week 6, is it Brock Purdy, Josh Allen, or is there another dark horse that deserves a mention?
