CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Panthers signed the fifth-year option on quarterback Bryce Young’s rookie contract on Wednesday, keeping the 2023 No. 1 pick with the team through the 2027 season.
General manager Dan Morgan first mentioned on SiriusXM’s “Mad Dog Sports Radio” that he was planning to sign the contract and later confirmed to the The Associated Press that he had signed the deal.
Under the terms of the fifth-year option, Young would make $29.5 million for the 2027 season. However, Morgan repeatedly has said the team is pleased with Young's progress and the goal would be to sign the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner from Alabama to a long-term deal, although the team still has plenty of time to get that done.
Young is set to cost $12 million under the Panthers' salary cap this coming season.
Young, who turns 25 in July, is just 14-30 as the team’s starting quarterback, but he is coming off his best season, posting career highs in yards passing (3,011), touchdown passes (23) and completion percentage (63.6%) while leading the Panthers to the playoffs for the first time to 2017.
Carolina lost 34-31 to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card game.
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FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young celebrates after scoring against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL football game Jan. 5, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)
FILE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) looks on before an NFL wild-card playoff football game between the Carolina Panthers and the Los Angeles Rams, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with a faith-based pregnancy center that raised First Amendment concerns about an investigation into whether it misled people to discourage abortions.
The high court's unanimous ruling is a procedural victory for First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, which is challenging a New Jersey investigation of its practices.
The conservative-majority court has given abortion opponents high-profile wins in recent years, most notably the watershed case that overturned the nationwide right to abortion in 2022. First Choice, though, had also drawn support from the American Civil Liberties Union, which supports abortion rights but backed the group's First Amendment concerns.
The Supreme Court's decision lets First Choice sue over a state-issued subpoena in federal court, though the ruling does not resolve the underlying case.
Lawyer Erin Hawley with the Alliance Defending Freedom argued the case, and said the group looks forward to taking up the case in federal court if New Jersey's attorney general decides to "continue these efforts on remand.”
Facilities often known as “crisis pregnancy centers” have been on the rise in the United States as Republican-controlled states enforce bans or restrictions on abortion and some steer tax dollars to the centers, which provide prenatal care and steer women to carrying pregnancies to term.
As Democratic-leaning states seek to protect abortion access, several have investigated whether the anti-abortion centers mislead women, including by implying they offer abortions.
In New Jersey, then-Democratic Attorney General Matthew Platkin sent a subpoena asking for donor lists and other information.
First Choice pushed back, arguing the investigation was baseless and the demand for donor lists threatened their First Amendment rights to free speech and association. They tried to challenge the subpoena in federal court, but a judge found the case was not yet far enough along. An appeals court agreed.
First Choice then turned to the Supreme Court.
They argued access to federal court is important in cases where government investigators are accused of misusing state power, and the ACLU agreed that subpoenas seeking donor information can scare away supporters.
The state argued that the information would only be used to ask donors whether they had been deceived about First Choice’s services, and the subpoena could not have threatened their First Amendment rights because the group hadn’t yet been required to turn over any information.
A court order is required to enforce the subpoena, and the judge overseeing the underlying case has so far only ordered the two sides to negotiate.
New Jersey also argued that allowing First Choice to sue could usher in a glut of lawsuits from the thousands of businesses that get similar subpoenas.
The Trump administration weighed in to support First Choice. The Justice Department argued that any impact would be relatively small since the decision would only apply to groups with similar First Amendment arguments.
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen Friday, April 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
