The Panthers and Jaguars are heading into Friday night’s preseason meeting from very different places.
Carolina already has two exhibition games under its belt. The Panthers opened by beating the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL Hall of Fame Game, then came back to reality in Week 1 with a 29-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Jacksonville, meanwhile, started its preseason with a 24-20 win over the Saints.
One of the more interesting angles for the Jaguars is the receiver room. Brian Thomas Jr. is locked in as the clear No. 1, with Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington part of the starting mix, but there’s still room for a rookie to carve out a role.
That makes CJ Williams a name worth watching. The Jaguars used a sixth-round pick on the Stanford product, and he made a solid first impression in the opener with two catches for 28 yards.
On the Carolina side, Dave Canales’ preseason track record doesn’t exactly inspire confidence if you’re looking for a team that treats these games like must-win affairs. He has gone just 1-7 against the spread in the preseason since becoming Panthers head coach, and that lines up with a staff that leans on these games more as evaluation than anything else.
Jacksonville is also in a different spot this week than it was in Week 1. The Jaguars won their first preseason game without any of their starters on the field, and now they plan to get those players some work, at least for part of the game.
That’s enough to make the Jaguars the side to trust here.
In Other News...
Panthers Face A Risky Haynes King Decision They Could Regret
As the Panthers move through their roster cuts, Haynes King has become one of those preseason names that can linger because of what he might eventually offer rather than what he has already shown. He has only appeared in the Hall of Fame Game so far, and his injury recovery has kept him from building much of a rsum in camp, but the appeal is obvious enough: a quarterback with enough versatility to be used in different offensive looks and enough short-yardage value to matter in a tight game.
That makes his spot a tricky one to judge, because the Panthers are weighing immediate roster math against the risk of letting a useful player get away before he has a chance to prove it. If they move on now, it would be easy to see how the decision could be revisited later if his development continues and another team is willing to bet on the same upside Carolina is trying to measure. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Face A Risky QB Debate Behind Bryce Young
The Panthers continue to operate as if Bryce Young is the quarterback to build around, and that certainty shapes everything else in the room behind him. With the team still sorting out how to support Young, the temptation to chase another name has surfaced in the usual offseason way, with Carolina linked to possible quarterback trade chatter involving Mac Jones and J.J. McCarthy.
But the case against making a move is pretty straightforward: the Panthers already have bodies behind Young, including Haynes King and Kenny Pickett, and there is enough uncertainty around the starters long-term setup without adding another layer to it. For now, the smarter play looks like patience, keeping the current quarterback group intact until Carolina has a clearer reason to change course. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Suddenly Have One More Pass Rush Situation To Watch
The Panthers spent the offseason trying to give their pass rush a clearer shape, signing Jaelan Phillips to a four-year contract with the idea of pairing him with Nic Scourton. Instead, Scourtons torn ACL changed the picture before the regular season even arrived, leaving Carolina with another question mark in a spot that already needed reinforcement.
Josh Sweats name has entered the conversation as the kind of player who could fit what Carolina is looking for, especially with the Cardinals sitting on a veteran edge option. But Arizona general manager Monti Ossenfort has already said there is no interest in moving him, which leaves the Panthers monitoring a situation that could matter to their defense without offering any easy answers yet. [Read more 🡒]