Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers' first-team offense are expected play in the preseason after all.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales announced on Thursday that the plan is for Young and Carolina's starters to see time Saturday against the Bills in Buffalo. To this point, Young hadn't taken a single preseason snap, nor had most of the expected starters.
Canales told reporters on Thursday that how long they would play would be based on "feel," but at the minimum said he hoped his players would get "sweaty." When asked after the team's last preseason game against the Jets why his starters hadn't been involved, with a whopping 38 inactive players on the team's 90-man roster last week, Canales referenced "the health of the whole unit" as being a big reason why.
Young deferred to the coaching staff when he was asked on Monday if he felt he needed to play in the preseason in order to be ready for Week 1 against the Saints.
"I trust in the coaching staff," Young said at the time. "They have our best interests at heart. Obviously, they manage the team, they know what they're doing. So for me and for us, we trust whatever it is that they wanna do and whatever Coach's calls are, we'll be ready for that."
Young is attempting to rebound from a trying first NFL season after being the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He was outplayed by No. 2 pick C.J. Stroud with the Texans and couldn't prevent the Panthers from finishing with the league's worst record. Adding insult to injury, the No. 1 overall pick this year the Panthers traded as part of the Young deal turned into Caleb Williams, who could be a generational prospect with the Chicago Bears.
To this point, Jack Plummer has taken the majority of the Panthers' QB snaps through two preseason games. Jake Luton, who is now on injured reserve, received the remainder of the snaps. Like Young, expected QB2 Andy Dalton also has not appeared in either preseason game.
