Bryce Young: There's no carryover from last season

The Panthers couldn't snap their streak of losing records last season, but the year still marked a step forward for the franchise.

Carolina's 8-9 record was good enough to make them the NFC South champions and put them in the playoffs for the first time since the 2017 season. They were knocked out of the postseason by a Rams touchdown in the final minute of a wild fourth quarter and that performance provided more reason to believe in the Panthers as a team on the rise heading into 2026.

Quarterback Bryce Young didn't take any issue with that assessment on Tuesday, but he did say that it is important for the team to remember that last year's results don't provide any guarantees that the team will continue to follow the same path.

"Obviously, we want to make sure that we can be consistent with some of the positives from last year, but also we understand that last year was last year," Young said, via the team's website. "This is a new season. We all start 0-0. There's no carryover; we're not entitled to anything, so I'm super grateful for that being our mindset as a team. Everyone knows we can't take our foot off the gas. We have to work just as hard, if not harder, as we have these last few years. Everything's earned, and now it's not the time to be thinking about records or anything like that. It's just about the work. Coach talks about that in the meetings. Now is just the time to win every single day, capture our best, so we're focused on that."

Young's position puts him in a leadership role and the message is likely one that fits Panthers head coach Dave Canales's desired mindset for the team. Canales said in February that he wanted to see Young "continue to grow in the ownership" of the team's offense. Young said his offseason focus has been on that "mastery" of the scheme and on-field evidence of it will help ensure the Panthers don't take a step backward this year.