Bryce Young

The Panthers are on the ascent in recent weeks, as evidenced by some recent tight contests against some of the league’s best teams. Carolina were just one Xavier Legette drop away from being in scoring position in the final minutes of Sunday’s game before losing to the Eagles.

Bryce Young is playing some of his best football, but still not providing at a prolific rate for fantasy. He was the QB20 in fantasy scoring in Week 14 even while compiling 29 yards rushing on seven rush attempts. The only pass catcher to record a difference-making fantasy performance was Adam Thielen, who brought in nine receptions for 102 yards. Xavier Legette drew eight targets, but caught just two for 39 yards. David Moore recorded five targets, but caught just two for 25 yards. Tight end Tommy Tremble caught the lone receiving touchdown, his only reception for two total yards receiving.

Unfortunately, rookie running back Jonathon Brooks is reported to have re-torn his ACL, the injury that landed him on IR for the early part of the season. That means Chuba Hubbard, who has seen bell cow usage with Brooks out, will continue to see difference-making usage down the stretch (Miles Sanders is also on IR with an ankle injury). Hubbard saw 26 carries and five targets in this one, and scored the Panthers other touchdown on the ground. Hubbard is in position to make an impact in the fantasy playoffs.

– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb

A resurgent Carolina Panthers offense led by second-year QB Bryce Young takes on a stingy Eagles defense in Week 14. The Eagles’ defensive unit is top-five in fantasy points allowed to opposing fantasy QBs, RBs and WRs. The Eagles are a less-than-ideal matchup for Young and the Carolina offensive weapons, even despite the fact that Young has come on as of late. The Alabama product threw 46 passes, completing 26 for 298 yards (both season highs) against the Bucs in Week 13, but that was an overtime game against the Bucs, who have a bottom-third D against the pass.

The Eagles have allowed a 300-yard passing game only once this season (Baker Mayfield in Week 4). They have yet to allow a 100-yard rusher on the season and have only allowed two 100-yard receiving games (Jayden Reed and Puka Nacua). The Panthers weapons are not exactly elite and Young has only one 300-yard passing game in his young career (last season).

Expectations should be tempered, but with six teams on bye in Week 14 and the fantasy playoffs looming, fantasy gamers may be in a position to start some Panthers. David Moore and Xavier Legette led the team in routes and targets over the last two weeks (post-bye), but Adam Thielen is the receptions (12) and yards (156) leader over that span. The 34-year-old vet is the most startable pass catcher and could see volume if the Panthers are playing from behind. That is likely since the Eagles are favored by nearly two touchdowns. Legette and Moore will have opportunities, but only hit their upside when scoring a touchdown.

Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard is now sharing the backfield with rookie Jonathon Brooks. Brooks had half as many (six) carries as Hubbard (12) in Week 13, but three targets to Hubbard’s zero, although Hubbard ran 29 routes to Brooks’ seven. Fantasy gamers will want to look elsewhere for RB production if possible.

– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb

Bryce Young threw for his high passing yardage total of the season (263, second highest of his career) and the Panthers were in the game all the way to the end on Sunday before falling to the Chiefs 30-27. The Panthers also scored their second-highest points total on the season against a tough Chiefs defense.

Young threw for a TD and added 20 rushing yards for his highest fantasy finish (QB14) of 2024. Chuba Hubbard notched his sixth top-12 RB finish of the season, rushing 16 times for 58 yards and a TD. The other Panthers touchdown went to WR David Moore, who led the team with 10 targets. Rookie RB Jonathon Brooks made his NFL debut vs. the Chiefs, but carried the ball just two times while Hubbard shouldered the bulk of the workload as he has all season.

Overall, the Panthers are a young team apart from 33-year-old vet Adam Thielen. Thielen, incidentally, returned to action in this game and earned four targets while running the third-most routes on the team behind Moore and rookie Xavier Legette. With Diontae Johnson gone, Legette is the Panther with the most targets on the season (51), but he was quiet in this one, catching four of six targets for 56 scoreless yards.

– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb

The Carolina Panthers are coming off their Week 11 Bye to face the Chiefs. Kansas City just fell to the Bills, marking the defending champs’ first loss of the season. The Panthers downed the Giants in their last game (Week 10), but the Panthers are scoring just 16.7 points per game on the season – the 4^th lowest in the NFL. The Chiefs defense has allowed just 19.4 PPG to opposing offenses, eighth-fewest in the league, and the fifth-fewest yards (297.5).

Bryce Young, who is getting his fourth straight start, threw for 224 yards and two TDs versus a tough Broncos D in Week 8, but threw for 171 yards and 126 yards, respectively, in his last two starts – one pass TD in each. It’s a low-volume pass attack with Young at the helm. No Panthers pass catcher has earned more than eight targets in any of Young’s starts. Jalen Coker drew eight against the Giants, but caught only three. Coker is tied with Xavier Legette for the team lead in targets over the last three with 17.

We could see an uptick in the Carolina passing volume against a middle of the road Kansas City pass defense, as the Chiefs’ run defense is a top-five unit. Adam Thielen is back in the mix this week, which could water down the pass volume, but Thielen will likely ramp up to game action slowly after missing the team’s last seven games. The bottom line is without a touchdown, none of the Panthers’ WRs or TEs is worth much more than a Bye week spot start. Legette is the most likely to get in the end zone, having caught four TDs on 45 targets and 69.8-percent (No. 72) Route Participation.

Miles Sanders is out with a lower leg injury and Jonathon Brooks is slated to make his NFL debut this week. That said, Brooks will merely spell Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard has been getting bell cow work this season – No. 9 with 151.6 Weighted Opportunities. Temper expectations against a stingy Chiefs run D, however, that has not allowed a single running back to gain more 69 total yards in a game this season.

– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb

Chuba Hubbard owned the Panthers’ backfield Sunday with Miles Sanders (knee/foot) playing only six snaps and Jonathon Brooks a healthy scratch. Hubbard ran the ball 28 times for 153 yards and a score versus the Giants in Munich. He is now No. 3 in the NFL with 818 rushing yards, trailing only Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley. With Sanders banged up and Brooks ramping up slowly, Hubbard is getting bell cow usage and careening toward league winner status.

With the Panthers leaning into the run game and not much resistance from the Giants on the other side of the ball, Bryce Young threw only 25 passes, his lowest pass attempt total on the season. Young is a last resort QB start. He does not add much on the ground, although he did add 30 yards on the ground Sunday on two rush attempts.

In a low volume passing attack, Jalen Coker was the target leader with eight, catching just three for 41 yards. Xavier Legette caught three of his four targets for 40 yards and Ja’Tavion Sanders had the lone receiving touchdown on one of his two targets. Sanders caught his other target, but went down on the one-yard line. Otherwise, he would have had a two-catch, two-touchdown day.

– Joel Ybarra, @metaffb