Bryce Young put in his best performance of his career with the former number one overall pick continue to bounce back after being benched by the Carolina Panthers earlier this season, with Patrick Mahomes impressed.

The Panthers fought strongly against Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, losing a one-score game to the defending champions with Young completing 21-of-35 passes for 263 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers. Young made a number of impressive throws, most notably to wide receivers David Moore, Adam Thielen and Xavier Legette throughout the game.

But despite their strong offensive performance, Mahomes and the Chiefs did enough to close out the win with Spencer Shrader hitting a walk-off field goal.

Speaking after the win, Mahomes heaped praise on the former Heisman Trophy winner after his standout game. He told reporters: “I thought he played his tail off, man. He throws a really good football.

“I think it’s been cool to see him bounce back these last few weeks and play some great football, because I know he has it because I’ve seen it for a long time. He gave us a scare today, man. He played his tail off. He’s been a great player for a long time and won a lot of football games.”

Young had been benched heading into week three of the season, just one year after the Panthers traded multiple draft picks to select him with the first overall selection in the 2023 draft class from Alabama, as it seemed fears over the youngster’s height were substantiated.

Bryce Young had his best performance of his career to date

But after a minor car crash sidelined Andy Dalton, Young was called upon to start once again – making big improvements in recent weeks while manoeuvring well in the pocket to create passing lanes for himself.

While his success has been limited up until this past weekend, his performance had been far-and-away his best of his young career so far – with Panthers head coach Dave Canales in agreement with Mahomes.

Canales said: “Yeah, I mean, I don’t have to make any statements… he’s making it for himself. He’s continued to show us the progress we’re looking for. It’s just all of it. It’s just all the things that he continues to grow, take advantage of opportunities, and lead. Another great week of practice in terms of just pushing the guys and really being the voice out there, all the things. So all those things are stuff that I’m proud about, just the way that he’s continuing to grow.”

The Panthers turned down multiple trade offers for Young after benching him earlier this season, suggesting they still see him as their franchise guy moving forward and will be unlikely to select a signal-caller in the upcoming draft.