CHARLOTTE — Panthers center Austin Corbett has his own job to worry about, and most of his concentration is on getting to the line of scrimmage and getting his teammates set, identifying defenses, and making protection calls. He tunes a lot of noise out because that's part of the job, too.

But one hot day during OTAs, Corbett heard a voice over his shoulder just before he hiked the ball that cut through the pre-snap clutter.

"Jaycee, you're cooked right here."

The voice and the message are familiar to Corbett and his teammates, even though the tone might not be to many outside that circle.

But the Panthers have come to understand that there's more to quarterback Bryce Young than meets the eye and much more than meets many ears. And much more than the outside world is used to seeing or hearing from his press conferences, though those are becoming more comfortable and conversational too.

And it's possible that no one understands it better than the guy on the other end of his on-field banter, which can sometimes push past that boundary of politeness.

"I know from his interviews you might think he's a robot or some s---, but he's human, man," cornerback Jaycee Horn said with a laugh. "He's just like the rest of us."

Even that point is something that many people are struggling with. Because Young has always had a plan, always had an image he was careful about, and always chooses his words in a way that doesn't suggest he's in the same category of yappers as guys like Horn, we don't think of him that way.

He's certainly not a shot-caller. Or a trash-talker. Right?

But as he's gotten more comfortable in his role as the Panthers' quarterback, and — most importantly — as he's beginning to have some success in his offense, he's loosening up. That's been more evident this spring, one of the through-lines of the entire offseason program.

Young and Horn getting after each other — the leaders on their respective sides of the ball — has created a different atmosphere: a fun one and a competitive one.

So when Young informs Horn that he is "cooked" before the ball is snapped, and Horn laughs and replies, "Strapped," something new is happening.

"I mean, that's cool," Horn said. "I'll just be picking at him, trying to just turn up the energy of the offense and he's doing the same thing. And we talk about that type of stuff. Obviously, the trash talk is real; like we get it, we are both competitive as hell. So that's why I'm able to get under his skin.

"Whenever I get him talking back to me a lot, I know I got him. So, I just try to raise the energy of practice, man."

Horn's doing this for two reasons. One, this is a competitive environment, and he knows how important it is for the defense to get better this time of year. But he's also pushing the guys on the other side, a rising tide of sass lifting all boats.

And if that means needling Young in 7-on-7, calling him "Checkdown Charlie" in response to any perceived lack of confidence downfield, then that's part of the job of a leader.

"I tell the DBs, how our energy is, that's how the team's going to go," Horn said. "If we're out there being lackadaisical, acting like we don't want to be here, then our receivers might take that on. But we're out here, we are talking s---, practicing hard, dominating your opponent. Then the guy across from you, he's got no choice but to bring it that day."

So it starts early, practically every day.

Young's not alone in this either, and he has co-conspirators trying to get under Horn and the defense's skin as well.

Andy Dalton has been doing this for a minute, so he knows how to instigate. And it's even more fun when there's a player like Horn on the other side (even if Dalton's rarely throwing in his direction since the ones go against the ones).

"Well, not to take credit, but I'm going to take credit for it because I'm the first one that is out there talking to Jaycee every single day," Dalton said with a laugh. " And I'm still looking for more people on the defense that I can kind of go after just to try to get it going. And then I think it's carried over into Bryce and him getting after it because they're usually going against each other in practice.

"I think it's just guys are comfortable with what we're doing, so it allows you to fully let your personality show. And I think that's kind of been part of it, if you will watch me before we do any team period, I'm the first one in the middle of the defensive huddle pushing guys, like letting them know we're going to get after them, all that kind of stuff just to kind of get it started, and hopefully get some competition going and also having fun with it all because this is supposed to be fun.

"And it's been fun out there."

And that spirit has a tangible effect on the rest of the roster. Veteran safety Nick Scott, who has been around the league and seen good situations and bad ones, lights up when he talks about the dynamic.

"When you see two guys like Bryce and Jaycee get after it and see how much two really skilled veterans in this league care about practice and 7-on-7, that's a domino effect for the rest of the team, right?" Scott said. "It heightens the intensity and the level of understanding of what it takes day in and day out to be successful in this league."

Dalton has seen Young go through the progression from Day 1. He arrived as a free agent in 2023 knowing he was backing up somebody, even if he didn't know it would be Young at the time. So he saw the imperfect situation the No. 1 overall pick was thrown into his rookie year, changing play-callers three times during the season. And then last year didn't start well, and he saw Young become his backup. But then he saw Young bounce back and build on a series of increasingly confident performances late in the year, culminating with plays like that no-look touchdown to Tommy Tremble in the finale in Atlanta.

And for Dalton, that's the important part. Talk without results is just talk. But when you're putting points on the board and getting some wins, the entire context changes.

"Another year in a system, another year with the guys around, the relationships are stronger," Dalton said. "I mean, that's what the best teams are, when you get some continuity on the team and players, and they get to kind of get to build it together. I feel like I've gotten to see the real Bryce from the beginning. I saw it early, but he picks and chooses when it comes out because he's really chill. But as games get better and the play gets better, it's easier for all that to come out.

"There's more of that to him than he was able to show early on because you're not going to do it when there's zero success, right?"

And all the people on offense who saw that growth — and that side of the ball is back largely intact — saw Young develop a little more personality along the way.

"Press Conference Bryce" or "TV Bryce" might present one way, but teammates have seen Locker Room Bryce, or as Dalton calls him simply, "the real Bryce."

For left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, there was a flashback to that Atlanta game at the end of last year when the Panthers trailed by a touchdown at the break of what would become a shootout and a five-touchdown coming-out party for his quarterback.

"I mean, most of the time when he speaks up, you listen," Ekwonu said, acknowledging the expectations of a quarterback. "But I think a message that really resonated with me, the last game of the season, and it was a little bit slow at first. When we came in at halftime, he was kind of just like, 'We don't have to talk about last year. Everything that we want to fix, we can do it right now. We've got one more opportunity to fix it.'

"And I feel like that game kind of just started going better and better for us, and we got the win."

Like Dalton, Ekwonu has been here throughout Young's career, so he's seen this part of his personality emerge. And like Dalton, he believes the performance is an integral component of that emergence.

"He's been growing in that aspect ever since his rookie year," Ekwonu said. "I think even early in his rookie year, we saw parts of that, but I'm sure there was some frustration that rookie year just because of the way it went.

"People don't get to see some of that Locker Room Bryce, you know, but I mean, he's definitely a guy that knows when to use his voice and when to rally the troops. And every time he speaks, everybody listens. He's just one of those types of guys, right? Locker Room Bryce is not what everybody sees."

Rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan wasn't around to see this slow build, but he's always known Young as a confident player.

In high school, Young's Mater Dei team gave McMillan's Servite a proper thrashing, the kind of game that was an announcement of intent. McMillan laughed and said he didn't recall the high school version of Bryce Young talking trash that day, perhaps because he didn't need to.

"Just knowing him, from playing against him all these years ago, you know he's a humble dude off the field, but obviously a huge competitor on that field," McMillan said. "He's one of the biggest competitors I know. So yeah, whether it's talking s--- to Jaycee or anybody on the defense, he's going to make sure that his energy is reflected off the team. So he's just that spark in our offense for sure.

"At the end of the day, he's a humble dude. And with the media, he seems like a cool, calm, collected dude, which he is. But between those white lines, it's a dog-eat-dog world. You've got to have that edge on. Between them lines, there are a lot of alter egos, and people are not who they are off the field."

And maybe this is who Young has always been. As outside linebacker D.J. Wonnum noted, "You don't play at Alabama and do what he did without having that dog in you."

But the conditions have certainly improved around him, and that's allowed more barking to come out lately.

Running back Chuba Hubbard, another one of Horn's regular foils, has seen how it's becoming more prevalent every day in practice. It can't just start if it's never been in there, though, and Hubbard said that competitiveness is latent in Young.

"Nah, Bryce's got that," Hubbard said. "Y'all ain't going to see it all the time. He doesn't really get too riled up, but he's competitive. I think everyone's gotten to know that he's really competitive, and Jaycee knows how to get under people's skin. I know that very, very well. I know how to get under his skin well, too.

"So it's good when you have guys like that; we're competing, and we want to push each other to be the best. So you need stuff like that, right?

"I think it's really just like we're competing to be our best, and if someone's not bringing the best, we're going to do our best to hold each other accountable. Because we're teammates, and we all know that if I'm not at my best today, Jaycee is going to let me know. If he's not, I'm going to let him know. And we let each other know."

And while Hubbard's role in this back-and-forth this offseason should not be diminished (I thought Canadians were supposed to be nice), the spotlight has been on Horn and Young, back and forth, every day.

So when Horn calls Young "Checkdown Charlie," he's come to know that Young's probably firing back. That might be laughing at him, teasing him that he's sitting back in a safe Cover 2.

"You afraid to press somebody?" Horn recalled Young replying in practice.

"It's all fun, it's all competition; I love it," Horn said with a grin. "People outside this building don't think he talks s---. He's so soft-spoken in his interviews, and he's a smart, smart dude, so I guess people just associate that with him being a nice guy. Which, he is a nice guy. He is one of the nicest guys I ever met.

"But at the same time, he's competitive. You can see when somebody else has got it. And he's got it. Like he's super competitive, and that's what I think drives him to be so great. He'll make a throw and kind of look at you and smile, or if you really got him mad that day or he's not having his best practice and he makes a play, he'll talk to you right after.

"So it's always fun to see him get fired up."