Bryce Young

Young is Carolina's QB1, and his 2026 production comes almost entirely through the air. Through five games he has thrown 201 passes, about 40 attempts per game, for 1,549 yards (roughly 310 per game), 11 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions. His legs have barely factored in: 9 carries for 25 yards and one rushing score. That is a pocket-passer profile built on volume and efficiency, not scrambling.

The per-game jump from his first three seasons is stark. He averaged 22.5 PPR points per game this season, compared with about 14.3 in 2025, 14.6 in 2024 and 10.4 as a rookie in 2023. The driver is volume. His roughly 40 attempts per game are well above the 30 he threw in 2025 and 27 in 2024. He is also getting more out of each throw, at about 7.7 yards per attempt this season versus about 6.3 in each of the prior two years and 5.5 in 2023. His touchdown rate has also climbed steadily, from 11 scores on 527 attempts as a rookie to 11 on just 201 now. One thing has gone the other way: rushing. He ran for 6 touchdowns in 2024 and 216 yards in 2025 but is averaging under two carries a game this season, so the scrambling floor that propped up his earlier years is mostly gone.

The Clutch Edge projection of 14.9 points per game sits right on his 2024-2025 baseline, well below the 22.5 he is producing. It ranks him #272 overall among QB/RB/WR/TE. The model is betting heavily on regression. Five games is a small sample, and the touchdown and interception rates are the parts most likely to drift. The attempt volume is a more durable signal if it holds.

For season-long managers, the question is whether 40 attempts a game is the new normal. If it is, he is a usable starter even with some touchdown regression. For DFS, his value comes entirely from passing volume, so there is little rushing cushion if the attempts dry up. Signs that would change the read are attempts sliding back toward 30 a game, yards per attempt falling back to the low 6s, or the interception count catching up to his career rate. If the volume and efficiency both hold, the projection is likely too low.

Written by a language model from the stat lines below. Numbers from Sleeper; the 2026 line is the season in progress.