CHARLOTTE — It's hard to tell when Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is feeling pressured or relaxed because he changes so little on a day-to-day basis. He's seemingly been talking about the process since he was a kid, trained up in the ways of doing his job the same way every day.

So, while people might try to read into a recent smile or the fact he talked to the team in the locker room after last week's loss to the Chiefs, the guys who are around him on a regular basis know that they can count on Young to maintain that normal level because that's his baseline.

"I think that's just him; I think that's just his personality," center Cade Mays said. "It seems like he's been that way since college. Like you could see it, that he never really got too high, never really got too low. He obviously gets super jacked up when good things happen, but never gets too low. Just kind of focuses on the next play, the next task.

"And it's really cool to watch, like the way he operates is special."

Mays has the benefit of seeing a contrast because last year offered few high moments to compare this recent run of positive results to. The Panthers only won two games last season, each with a different coach, so having the ability to stay steady was a gift as they all slogged through a lost season together. So Mays joked with Young when he saw him Monday, and his quarterback had a smile on his face that he didn't see often in 2023.

"It was tough to watch last year," Mays said. "More than just watching him watching us as a team. There was not a lot, not very much energy. A lot of people down. I mean, it was sh---y feeling. Everybody felt that, not just him. And it was tough.

"But now, all of a sudden, people are smiling. On Monday, when we came in, we got in the building around the same time, and he had a big smile, and I was just like, man, that's a good-looking smile this morning; made my morning. Glad to see it."

Young will smile from time to time. He'll laugh, even. He's steady, he's not a robot. But those breaks are happening a little more often now, when he can acknowledge that he's actually enjoying himself and what's happening as the team plays better football.

"I think that again, it's just playing off of the energy that we've all had as a team," Young said when asked if he was actually having fun. "I think that again, there's been some stuff that we've been doing that has been positive, and that doesn't entitle us to anything this week.

"We have to make sure that we have a good week of practice, earn the right to be able to do it again and execute. But it's definitely been, you know, some more moments that I've been enjoying."

Being able to say that is not something any of them take for granted (especially the ones who were around him last year). But in every conversation, Young always steers it back to the next thing, which aligns him with his coach.

Dave Canales hesitated to announce that Young would start more than any one game at a time until Sunday, when he acknowledged that Young was making the decision for him by playing so well against the Chiefs and all the pressure they brought.

So even when Canales was asked Wednesday if Young would remain the starter, he pointed to the improvement on the field as the barometer.

"Just the progress that we're looking for as he continues to earn these moments, then, yeah, he'll be in there," Canales said. "And that's what I've been most excited about is, is that there's weekly growth that's happening. And so, we're just taking it a week at a time. I know that's been my language, but he's really taking responsibility for it and pushing us that way.

"And so, the bottom line is, he's giving us a chance to win."

That's the "Alabama Bryce" teammates talked about in the aftermath of the Chiefs game, and Young has gotten back to the kind of confident and anticipatory throws he made so often in college. If earning the conditional endorsement from Canales, a week at a time or otherwise, has changed him, it's hard to tell.

He meets sweeping questions with a shrug because his focus stays small. He did crack a grin when asked if he considering accepting Texas Tech's offer when he was in eighth grade, which Patrick Mahomes referenced Sunday, but said as long as he's been playing, he's tried to maintain the same approach through good times and bad.

"I don't think necessarily when I was in eighth grade, I was pretty young," he laughed. "I don't know if I was thinking about committing at the time, but I definitely do do remember that."

But what he does remember is that things like that didn't seem to faze him, which might be the reason he was able to survive last year, a benching after two games this year, and come out of it playing a better brand of football.

"I've tried to be the best version of myself," he said, again with a shrug, when asked if he's always been this way. "I'm grateful I have great parents in my life that I've learned from. I've had a lot of great people in my life who've tried to push me in the right direction. So, I think it's just been gradual, like always trying to be the best version of myself, trying to improve in all aspects of life. So I think thought process, I guess you could say, is one of them.

"It's just really honing on the process of what I try to do. I'm trying to stay grounded."

He's done that, and continued to progress. If there's a difference, it's that the football is back to the place that allows that smile to come out a little more often, and for Bryce Young, that's always the main thing.