Bryce Young, Struggling Young NFL Stars Who Shouldn't Be Written off Just Yet
The Carolina Panthers gave up two first-round picks, two second-round selections and sacrificed veteran wide receiver D.J. Moore in order to land quarterback Bryce Young at the top of this year's NFL draft.
Thus far, they have not reaped much reward.
With just nine touchdown passes and a league-low 5.4 yards-per-attempt average 10 games into his career, Young is the NFL's fourth-lowest-rated qualified passer for a team that has just one win and no draft capital to show for it.
However, we're not ready to give up on a 22-year-old with so much room to grow, even if it's tough to compare him to flourishing No. 2 pick C.J. Stroud at this early stage.
Here's why, along with a quartet of other examples of talented young players who deserve some patience.
Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young
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Young's case is made worse by the fact that the Panthers invested so heavily in him and Stroud being a borderline MVP candidate with the league's sixth-highest passer rating.
Few would be breathing down his neck this much if he wasn't a No. 1 overall pick who was traded up for in a no-patience era and playing out his first-year campaign while the No. 2 selection puts together one of the best rookie quarterback seasons in NFL history.
Throw in that the Panthers have already fired head coach Frank Reich, and it's easy to condemn the struggling young passer.
But it's not as if Young has had zero promising moments. He put together a nice run in October before hitting another wall in November, but it's still an extremely small sample for a player with limited support and two years' college starting experience under his belt.
Keep in mind that just two years ago, Tua Tagovailoa was subject to trade rumors following a disappointing rookie season for the Miami Dolphins. Few had faith in him entering 2021, but he was the NFL's highest-rated passer in 2022 and is again an MVP candidate as a bona fide franchise QB this year.
And Tagovailoa's not alone in blooming a tad late. Trevor Lawrence is on a track that looks similar to the Dolphins star, and he threw a league-high 17 interceptions during a rookie season in which his rating (71.9) was lower than Young's current figure of 74.9.
First-round picks such as Peyton Manning, Lamar Jackson and Jared Goff also struggled as rookies before becoming reliable franchise signal-callers at the very least (MVPs and Hall of Famers at most).
There's certainly a decent chance Young doesn't pan out in this league because that's the nature of the crapshoot draft. But it's far too early to call him a bust.
New York Jets RB Breece Hall
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After wowing the football world with a 5.8 yards-per-attempt average in limited action as a rookie, New York Jets running back Breece Hall has come back to earth a fair bit with a 4.6 average and just two rushing touchdowns in 11 games in 2023.
And while it would be convenient to chalk that up to the fact that he was coming off a major injury to start the year, the reality is his early-season production wasn't an issue.
For whatever reason, the 22-year-old has fallen off a cliff since mid-October. Dating back to Week 6, he's averaged just 2.6 yards per rushing attempt.
But his strong rookie and early-sophomore showings are enough to give us belief that Hall still has stardom in him and that major issues at quarterback have made it nearly impossible for him and the rest of the Jets backfield to sustain anything. The team has also gone up against a few tough defenses during this cold stretch.
Watch for the 2022 second-round pick to get back on track when he schedule eases up later this season and Aaron Rodgers returns from injury in 2024.
Tennessee Titans WR Treylon Burks
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Midway through his second NFL season, 2022 first-round pick Treylon Burks has scored one career touchdown for the Tennessee Titans.
Yes, injuries are a factor for the wide receiver. He missed six games last year and has already missed another six this year. And while it's fair to hold a player's lack of durability against them in a spot like this, it's far from ideal that the 23-year-old has caught just 56.9 percent of the passes thrown his way, with his catch rate, yards-per-target percentage and success rate all plummeting in 2023.
So, why aren't we giving up on Burks? He did stay quite healthy throughout his three years as a regular at Arkansas, so it's possible luck simply hasn't been on his side the last couple years. The law of averages should eventually be friendlier to him, while a lack of consistency at quarterback for Tennessee is also a negative factor to this point.
As Burks gets healthier and the Titans get more experience for rookie quarterback Will Levis, expect the young wideout to make major strides.
Carolina Panthers OT Ikem Ekwonu
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After one-and-a-half seasons in the NFL, Panthers offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu has been penalized a ridiculous 18 times.
According to Pro Football Focus, the 2022 No. 6 pick was responsible for six sacks as a rookie and has already hit seven (the third-highest total at his position) as a sophomore.
It's simply ugly.
But we refuse to believe the 23-year-old is a bust just yet, partly because it does feel as though he and Young are experiencing shared growing pains.
Young has not made life easy on his line and vice versa. The Panthers have some experienced veterans within that offense, but the line has generally been a major weakness. Nobody's lifting anyone up, and now the offensive-minded head coach is gone.
Brandon Thorn of the B/R NFL Scouting Department wrote in Ekwonu's pre-NFL scouting report that he "will need to learn to harness his aggressive nature and play with better precision before reaching his full potential at tackle." And it's fair to say that hasn't happened yet. But as the report adds, "he has A+ physical traits and the white-hot motor to appeal to scouts and coaches at multiple positions. He has the versatility to be a longtime impact starter at either tackle or guard in any scheme."
Watch for that to happen despite these early-career hiccups in a tough spot.
Las Vegas Raiders Edge Tyree Wilson
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Twelve games into his NFL career, this year's No. 7 overall selection Tyree Wilson has just 1.5 sacks and three quarterback hits for the Las Vegas Raiders.
And the 23-year-old's PFF grade ranks 537th among 558 defensive players who have participated in at least 20 percent of their team's snaps.
That's got to be incredibly disappointing, but the thing about Wilson is he's adaptable and versatile. It's possible the Raiders have yet to find the spot at which he'll truly find his NFL groove, and the team appears to know it.
They're already considering moving the Texas Tech product around.
That doesn't guarantee Wilson will become a star, but considering his off-the-charts ability and flexibility, it's far too early to conclude otherwise.
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