Panthers Draft Bryce Young: Dynasty Rookie Outlook (2023 Fantasy Football)

The 2023 NFL Draft is here! After months of waiting, we finally know where the 2023 NFL Draft class will land. This information shapes the outlook for rookies in 2023 and beyond. We’re going to have you covered throughout and following the 2023 NFL Draft to help you prepare for your fantasy football leagues. Next up for many will be dynasty rookie drafts. To help you prepare to make your dynasty rookie draft picks, let’s dive into Thor Nystrom’s 2023 NFL Draft profile as well as Pat Fitzmaurice’s dynasty rookie draft outlook for Bryce Young.

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Dynasty Rookie Picks & Predictions: Panthers Draft Bryce Young

Let’s first see what NFL Draft expert Thor Nystrom says about Bryce Young.

Thor Nystrom’s 2023 NFL Draft Outlook & Player Comp

Player comparison: Russell Wilson

Bio

Bryce Young was a five-star recruit out of California football powerhouse Mater Dei High and the consensus QB1 in the 2020 class. Alabama won the derby for his services. Incredibly, Young exceeded sky-high expectations in Tuscaloosa. In his first year as a starter, Young won the Heisman and led Alabama to the title game. Last year, Young’s supporting cast fell off a cliff, but he improved anyway.

That’s one side of Young’s story — consistently out-performing lofty expectations under the brightest of spotlights.

The other side of his story isn’t so dissimilar from Young’s NFL Combine experience. There Bryce Young was in Indianapolis, off a dominant two-year run as the starter for the nation’s premier program… answering questions about his size. Again.

Young measured in at roughly Kyler Murray‘s dimensions. Young chose not to throw or do the athletic tests. He was in Indy to measure and talk to teams and the media. After a picture emerged of Young wearing what appeared to be lift shoes at his media session, the Crimson Tide quarterback was mocked on social media.

Media leaving the event talked about C.J. Stroud’s arm, Anthony Richardson‘s athleticism… and Young’s lack of size. Not his Heisman, not his 24-3 record as a starter in college, but his dimensions.

It all must have seemed so familiar. Except for this time, Anthony Richardson was playing the role of former Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei. Alongside Young and Stroud, Uiagalelei was the third five-star quarterback out of California in the 2020 class.

In the eighth grade, Uiagalelei had a war chest of scholarship offers from every major program in the country. Bryce Young had one. It had come from a Big 12 coach who would be fired during Young’s senior year of high school — Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury. UCLA HC Chip Kelly was among many who withheld an offer until later because of Young’s height and scrawny frame.

Young flipped the script game-by-game and proved the doubters wrong in high school. By his senior year, Young had pulled ahead of Uiagalelei as the class’ consensus QB1. After signing with Nick Saban, Young sat behind Mac Jones for a year and threw for over 8,000 yards with 80 TD over his two campaigns as a starter. Young was PFF’s highest-graded thrower during that span and earned consecutive All-American honors.

Strengths

A prodigy inside the pocket. A pilot who has logged 10,000 hours in the cockpit. Nothing surprises him. Uncanny cool, and calm back there. Doesn’t get hung up when primary options are taken off the table or when the post-snap look changes unexpectedly.

To quote Bruce Lee, Young is a “like water” decision-maker. He doesn’t need looks or decisions manufactured for him in advance. When Bryce Young has the ball, it is assumed that he will make the correct decision in the moment. Defenses cannot force his hand.

Young extends commercial-length plays into episode-length high-wire acts. He’s not concerned about pressure. Young thinks quickly, moves quickly, and has a quick release. He has a conviction that he will figure it out with heat in his face, and he’s usually right. He’s clever and sudden in cramped quarters with pass-rushers, and he has that Kyler Murray gene for weaving through garbage until he finds a look worthy of releasing the ball.

So very dangerous in chaos. All he needs to see is a glimmer of a receiver breaking open to fling the ball out, and he can do it surrounded by bodies. Young needs little space or time to get the ball out. He’s a conundrum for defenders at all levels. Young’s style of play itself can force confusion and communication breakdowns for the opposing defense.

Full-field reader who learned under former NFL HCs Saban and Bill O’Brien. There are quarterbacks who miss a free-running receiver off a coverage breakdown because they’re working the other side of the field. Not Bryce Young. All options are on the table until the ball leaves his hand.

For all the negative talk about Young’s body, let’s talk about the good. Young is made of rubber bands. He’s as twitchy in the upper half as he is in the lower. This is why Young can generate that level of zip on his throws for his size, even with the compact delivery — his elbow and shoulder are elastic.

He uncrowds the catch point for his receivers with quick-trigger pellets in this way — he sees it quicker, unloads it quicker, and has enough arm to make all the throws. He doesn’t have a bazooka. But man, does that right arm have nuance.

Serves YAC opportunities on a platter with his touch and placement. Poolshark of an anticipatory thrower. Will attempt unorthodox, trick-shot intermediate throws that others don’t have the imagination to see nor the audacity to try.

Young doesn’t generate the velocity on his throws that some other quarterbacks in this class do. But he can make up for some of that with the dizzying speed he turns around the ball from the center’s snap to the receiver’s hand when his first read is there or the quick-trigger decision-making and release on extended plays.

Zone defenders playing downhill don’t often get invited to the catch point despite Young’s lack of elite velocity — it’s difficult to process quicker than Bryce Young. Young lacks a bazooka but has more than enough arm for the throws he’ll be required to make in the NFL.

Young improved in 2022 even as Alabama’s receiving corps and the offensive line took steps backward. His work under pressure stood out — he’s the best in the class under duress — as did his ability to battle back from dropped balls or concepts that blew up because his receivers weren’t separating.

Wherever he winds up, Bryce Young will be seen as a savior. He’s overcome adversity and outplayed larger opponents all his life. So I trust him to immediately step in as the leader of an organization.

Weaknesses

Alabama listed Young at 6-foot, 194 pounds. Young stated after the season that he’d use the pre-draft process to try to pack on pounds. At the NFL Combine, he’d succeeded in getting up to Kyler Murray’s measurements. Almost assuredly, Young didn’t test because he was carrying an additional 10 pounds or so of unnatural weight.

Young is as tall as Murray but not quite as thick. Young will likely start NFL games initially under 200 pounds. By definition, this introduces a red flag into the eval. But Young’s game translates to the NFL smoother than Kyler Murray’s — he’s better in the pocket, and I like his arm more.

The concern for a quarterback this small – who thrives on extended plays, outside the pocket, and as a runner — is if Young can stay healthy in the NFL. But I am not as concerned by this as others are. Young only missed one game to injury the past two seasons at the highest level of college football — that injury, an AC joint sprain in his shoulder, almost always costs college quarterbacks two or three games.

Most quarterback injuries occur in the pocket. Young’s sense for the pass-rush and gift for maneuvering around it doesn’t leave him on a silver platter to be teed off on often. And if the AC joint sprain was any indication, this guy’s rubber-band body heals like Wolverine…

Young’s other weaknesses can be modified for or worked around. A good example is Young’s preference for surveying the field from deep drops. This gives him a better vantage point and widens his field-vision lens while opening more space to manipulate if Young wants to extend the play. All of this, again, is very much like Kyler Murray. (Murray was actually my comp for Young initially in college. But I shifted to Russell Wilson for the draft process because Young isn’t interested in running like Murray was).

You want Young in shotgun with your receivers spreading the field – giving him more options while thinning out the box. And while Young is very difficult to sack and doesn’t get cute as a scrambler, his game naturally asks different things of his linemen. He’ll bail out a percentage of your offensive line’s losses off the snap, but that line better be ready to stay busy until the whistle blows while keeping its hands inside the shoulder pads.

2023 Dynasty Rookie Draft Outlook: Bryce Young

Dynasty managers have been debating which of the top quarterbacks in this draft class deserves to come of the board first in rookie drafts, and the case for Bryce Young has strengthened now that the Carolina Panthers have selected him with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

Young is a high-floor prospect whose ability to read defenses and quickly process information should flatten his learning curve and help him reach his full potential in a hurry. A true field general who operates like a point guard, Young has remarkable vision and a quick-trigger release. He’s comfortable operating in the pocket but is also very good at eluding pass rushers and making plays out of structure. Young isn’t going to be among the league leaders in QB rushing yardage, but he’ll add at least a little bit of value with his legs, and his mobility will help him elude pass rushers and buy time for his receivers to get open.

The big concern with Young is his size. At the NFL Scouting Combine, he measured 5-10, 204 pounds, but it’s possible he’ll play at less than 200 pounds. Durability could be an issue for a quarterback that small, although Young only missed one game in his final two seasons at Alabama. Young doesn’t have a rocket for an arm, but by no means is his arm strength a problem. It’s also worth noting that Young doesn’t have a top-flight group of wide receivers, with Terrace Marshall, D.J. Chark and a dusty Adam Thielen.

For dynasty leagues, Young has the potential to develop into a QB1, and it shouldn’t take him long to maximize his potential. He should be one of the first three or four players off the board in superflex rookie drafts. Some dynasty managers might prefer Anthony Richardson for his rushing potential or C.J. Stroud for his more prototypical size, but Young is probably the safest of the rookie quarterbacks.

In redraft leagues, Young should be considered a low-end QB2 for 2023. He’s likely to start right away and won’t be given a quick hook if he comes out of the gate slowly. The Panthers don’t exactly have an abundance of pass catching firepower on their roster, which it would be overly optimistic to project Young for more than about 3,800 passing yards and 25 TD passes even if he starts all 17 games. And as noted earlier, Young doesn’t figure to be a prolific runner.