The Carolina Panthers are rolling the dice with Bryce Young.
After Haynes King went down with a hamstring injury in Thursday night’s preseason win over the Arizona Cardinals, Panthers coach Dave Canales confirmed Sunday that Young and the starters will still take the field against the Buffalo Bills. It’s a choice that will draw plenty of side-eye, especially with a quarterback already facing pressure to deliver a big season.
Canales said the plan is to get the starters meaningful work, but not a full workload.
"Yes, yes," Canales said of playing his starters against Buffalo, via USA Today. "We will play this week, for sure.
We'll take it week by week. We'll get them out there-probably play something similar to what Kenny [Pickett] and that group played in the Hall of Fame Game.
"So it'll be somewhere between 10 and 20 plays depending on how those drives pan out, so we can just get some good work in."
That means Young is expected to log only a brief stint, but even that brings risk. The Panthers are choosing extra preseason reps for their starters at a time when Young’s health carries real weight, especially with a 2027 offseason contract situation looming.
King had been the quarterback who sparked Carolina against Arizona, going 21-of-34 for 180 yards and two touchdowns through the air while adding three carries for 39 yards and another score on the ground. But after the injury, he’s now expected to miss Saturday’s game and is considered week-to-week.
Carolina brought in Kyle Trask as added insurance with King sidelined, and he could certainly use the preseason snaps. Instead, Canales is prioritizing work for the first unit, with Week 1 against the Chicago Bears in mind.
Young, for his part, sounded ready to go.
"I'm excited to just be able to get out there with the guys," Young said. "Anytime you get to play football, live in a stadium, it's a privilege.
"Especially being able to go out there last week, you're around it. Obviously, I wasn't playing-but you get that itch again."
The Panthers will hope that itch is the only thing Young comes away with on Saturday. For Carolina, his health looms large if the team wants to repeat as NFC South champs.
In Other News...
Former Panthers Center Cade Mays Hit With Another Tough Setback
Cade Mays first season in Detroit has hit a rough patch, with the former Panthers center now dealing with a wrist injury after signing a three-year contract with the Lions this offseason. The setback is another difficult turn for a lineman who has been trying to carve out a bigger role after stops with Carolina and the Giants, and it immediately puts his availability in question for a good stretch of the season.
Dan Campbell said Mays will miss a significant amount of time, and the injury is serious enough to sideline him for about eight to 10 weeks. There is still a path back later this season, but not anytime soon, which leaves the Lions to shuffle their center depth while Mays works through another frustrating interruption in what was supposed to be a fresh start. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Young Got Caught Up In Panthers Camp Tension
Training camp was bound to get a little chippy eventually, and it did on Aug. 10 when Bryce Young found himself in the middle of a physical altercation after a play in which safety Lathan Ransom went after running back Jonathon Brooks. The exchange pulled in cornerback Mike Jackson and an offensive lineman, turning one snap into the kind of sideline dust-up that tends to grab attention even when it barely registers as more than camp heat.
Nick Scott brushed it off as the sort of physicality that comes with a competitive practice, and head coach Dave Canales offered the same broad view of the day, calling it physical and competitive without getting into the specific play that set things off. For the Panthers, the bigger takeaway is less about a scuffle than the tone around it, with camp intensity already showing up early as players push through a practice setting where tempers can rise as quickly as pads start popping. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Young Is Giving Panthers Fans A Reason To Believe Again
Bryce Young has made training camp and the early preseason feel a little different around the Panthers, mostly because he looks more comfortable and more decisive than he did a year ago. The improvement has shown up in the way he is carrying himself and in how the team views him, with Carolina treating him as a quarterback on the rise even though his game snaps have still been limited.
The next chance to see more of that progress comes in Buffalo, where Young is expected to get a larger workload in the preseason game. For a Panthers team still sorting out its long-term picture under center, every additional rep matters, especially with no second contract talk yet and more time still needed before the front office has to make any major calls. [Read more 🡒]