As exciting as Bryce Young's hot start to the 2026 season is, it's important to not get too far ahead of ourselves. For one thing, two games is a small sample size, no matter how good a quarterback might look.
How Young's third game goes may tell us a lot more about where both he and the Carolina Panthers offense are heading this year.
According to Vic Tafur at The Athletic, the Cleveland Browns have played man coverage 43 percent of the time, which is the second-highest rate in the NFL thus far. Meanwhile, Young has mostly been roasting zone defenses this year.
Tafur writes:
The Panthers have opened things up for Bryce Young, and he has feasted against zone coverage. Unfortunately, the Browns have run man coverage at the second-highest rate of
any defense in the NFL (43 percent of dropbacks).
The Browns have the personnel to play man defense a lot, too. They have a strong secondary led by cornerback Denzel Ward, one of the best shut-down cornerbacks in the game.
Cleveland's pass rush will inevitably suffer some without future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett, but Jared Verse is no slouch—and the Panthers should expect a real challenge at the line of scrimmage as well as on the back end.
This may be a good week for offensive coordinator Brad Idzik to let running back Chuba Hubbard off the relatively short leash he's been on so far. Hubbard's traditional numbers haven't been great, but he's been efficient, explosive and reliable.
His 59.1-percent success rate is evidence of that. Meanwhile, the Browns rank 26th against the run, allowing 131.5 rushing yards per game so far.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers QB Bryce Young may run into big problem vs. Browns in Week 3
