Dave Canales is giving his starters a little more runway this time.
After the Carolina Panthers opened their 2026 preseason with a 33-30 win over the Arizona Cardinals in the HOF game, Canales said on Sunday that Bryce Young and the rest of the first team will get work in Saturday’s preseason game at Buffalo. The plan is still a light one: 10-20 reps for the starters, which keeps this from being anything close to a full workload.
That means Young, Tetairoa McMillan and the rest of the top group will see action, but not much of it. The Panthers are into the stretch of three preseason games left, and Canales is not about to turn this into a heavy-snap showcase.
The number matters because it’s so limited. At that volume, the game is more about getting a brief tune-up than drawing any sweeping conclusions.
Still, it’s a notable shift in approach for a coach who has been cautious with his starters in the preseason. So far, that has not exactly paid off for Carolina. Twenty snaps is only about two series, which barely gets a player into the flow of the game, let alone a rhythm.
There is always the injury risk argument, and that part is real. Keeping starters on the sideline lowers the chance of something going wrong. But there’s another side to it, too: linemen need actual live reps in the trenches, and quarterbacks need to deal with real pressure instead of simulated work.
Young needs those snaps to work with targets like Jalen Coker and Tetairoa McMillan. Jonathon Brooks, more than anyone, could use more live action as well, since he’s barely had game reps since 2024.
The bigger concern is that this has become a pattern. The Panthers have started 0-2 in each of the last two preseasons, and the lack of reps has been a common thread. Canales has leaned hard into caution, usually limiting his starters to a series or two.
Maybe this time looks different. Maybe the concern is overstated. But two straight years of rough preseason starts is a pretty loud reminder that Carolina has not looked especially sharp going into Week 1.
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 🡒]