We are proud to be among the first, if not the first, to publish full projections for the upcoming season, going live just days after the Super Bowl. Publishing detailed projections in early February comes with trade-offs, not the least of which is a near-total lack of clarity on how free agency, cap transactions, and the NFL draft will reshape rosters.
We've been updating our projections in near real time, including during the recent onslaught of free-agent transactions. This version will remain largely stable until we can layer in the April NFL draft, but stable projections don't mean settled debates.
We have a staff of sharp analysts with sharp takes of their own, so I thought it would be worthwhile to solicit their views on the key coin-toss situations that will shape each team's outlook in the coming months. These are important questions where reasonable, informed people can credibly land in very different places. I asked my colleagues to weigh in with one assumption: they were answering strictly through the lens of a standard 0.5-PPR redraft league.
Carolina Panthers Coin-Toss Questions
- Will Young Finally Be Fantasy Relevant?
- What Is Hubbard's Ceiling?
- Who Will Be the Panthers RB2?
- Has McMillan Reached His Ceiling?
- How High Should You Draft Coker?
The narrative seems to be that Bryce Young has improved enough to potentially be the long-term answer in Carolina. Yet, he ranked QB28 in 2025, exactly where he ranked among fantasy passers in 2024. Do you expect Young to be more than a low-end QB2 this year (say between QB20–QB24)?
Maurile Tremblay: I'd lean no. Young made significant real-life progress in 2025, but it won't translate into a fantasy breakout in 2026. He set career highs in yards and touchdowns, took fewer sacks, and found chemistry with a legit No. 1 target in Tetairoa McMillan. But Carolina still finished just 27th in offense and scoring; the passing game became even less aggressive downfield; and the line is shakier, with Ikem Ekwonu expected to miss significant time. I'd project Young as a fringe fantasy option still stuck in the QB20–QB24 range.
Jeff Haseley: I'm keeping Bryce Young in the QB20–24 range. While the growth is there mentally, the fantasy production hasn't quite followed. Until he shows he can consistently push the ball downfield and handle pressure, he's a low-end QB2 in my estimation.
Andy Hicks: Young is such an oddity to rank. Thirteen games with 206 passing yards or less, including a shocking game against the Seahawks with just 54 yards. Fifteen passing touchdowns and nine interceptions in those games show a poor season overall. The other three games had 1,042 passing yards, eight passing touchdowns, and two interceptions. The narrative is wrong — he is the same guy from previous years. A low-end QB2 sounds right. He has started 46 games, and improvement is unlikely.