It looked like Bryce Young was going to be a bust his rookie year. Suddenly, everything he did at Alabama appeared to be wiped away. Suddenly, at the NFL-level, Young was deemed undersized, he could not see over his linemen to view the field, he struggled reading defenses. Suddenly, he was not any good.

Suddenly, over the last month, Bryce Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner, is evolving into Bryce Young.

Young has rebounded from being benched earlier this season into looking like the player Carolina took him with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Since coming back in Week 8, the 23-year-old has thrown for 1,062 yards, completing 60.4 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and three interceptions. Last week against Tampa Bay, Young completed a career-high 26 of 46 passes for 298 yards, and also displayed great poise in the clutch moments—as he had time and time again at Alabama—none more impressive than finding Adam Thielen for a go-ahead TD with 30 seconds left in regulation.

It wound up being 30 seconds too long, because Baker Mayfield brought the Bucs right back to set up a game-tying field goal, before Tampa Bay won 26-23 in overtime.

When asked this week how he has seen Young improve on tape, Eagles’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said, “Just in the full operation of their offense. I think they’ve done a good job of coaching him. They have a really good running back in [Panthers RB Chuba] Hubbard. They feature him. They’re running play-action and boots off of that run game.

“I think they’ve done a good job in their entire offense of finding out who they are within his quarterback abilities.”

Stopping Young may not be as easy as Eagles’ fans see it. It has helped recently that Jalen Carter is turning into the kind of player the Eagles expected. He had a monster game last week against the Baltimore Ravens, stirring double teams to release other pass rushers, and penetrating the Ravens’ backfield.

“[Milton Williams] Milt has benefited some [by Carter’s play],” Fangio said. “We all have. He’s caused some sacks for other people by applying the early pressure that makes the quarterback move and buys time for somebody else to get there. Really our team and our defense have prospered because of his play.”

In his last three starts, Young has not thrown an interception, and has a five-game streak in which he has thrown a touchdown pass.

“Just decisiveness and having a plan,” Carolina coach Dave Canales responded after being asked the difference between Young now and since the start of the season. “Things that we talk about through the week, that come alive on game day, and they’ve been in these critical situations for the last two weeks, for sure … so, I love just how decisive and the mechanics of all those things have been.”