Panthers owner David Tepper backs Bryce Young ahead of season opener in rare interview: ‘I’m a believer’
David Tepper is fully behind Bryce Young.
The Carolina Panthers owner made a rare appearance on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the team’s season opener this weekend, marking the first time he’s sat with local reporters on the record in nearly three years.
And even though he’s had his struggles in his three seasons with the franchise, Tepper is still a “believer” in the team’s starting quarterback.
“He has performed at a high level against high-level competition,” Tepper said, via ESPN’s Mike Kaye. “It seems to bring out the best in him. Bryce is the sort of guy that doesn’t feel the pressure, right? You saw it against the Rams twice. When you have that kind of performance, you know it’s there. Can he bring it every single game? I believe he can. You know it’s there.
“So like I said, I’m a believer, and hopefully it comes true.”
The Panthers selected Young with the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 out of Alabama, and traded away a lot of picks to pull that off. Young went just 2-14 in his rookie season, and he was benched briefly in 2024 for veteran Andy Dalton after struggling in the first few games of the year.
But last year, Young threw for 3,011 yards and 23 touchdowns, both career-highs, while leading the Panthers to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. They won their division for the first time since their run to the Super Bowl in the 2015 campaign, too.
Young is up for a contract extension, and the team did pick up his fifth-year option this past offseason for 2027. Tepper didn’t get into Young’s contract, and instead deferred that to general manager Dan Morgan.
The Panthers will open the 2026 season against the Chicago Bears on Sunday. They’ve started out 1-3 in each of the past two seasons, and haven’t had a winning record since Tepper purchased the franchise in 2018. Even though they made the playoffs last year, the did so with an 8-9 record.
While he certainly had much larger goals, Tepper wants to start out with the team simply stacking winning seasons together. The Panthers have never had back-to-back winning seasons since they entered the league in 1995.
And this year’s group, he said, is “more of a playoff team” than last year’s.
“I’d like to have two winning seasons for the first time in this franchise’s history,” Tepper said, via the Charlotte Observer. “So I’d like to win this year, and I’d like to win next year … I’d like to see us string winning seasons. That’s success.”
