CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales said Tuesday he was "open" to the idea of playing his starters in Saturday's preseason finale at Buffalo, but that the decision would come down to availability to make sure they were getting coherent work together.

The Panthers haven't played their starters in the preseason, one of 13 teams who haven't put their starting quarterback on the field at all in the first two weeks.

"We have to look at what does that group look like if we put everybody out there?" Canales said. "Are there enough of those guys to say, man, this is valuable for us to get these reps. Once we start to get into the depth of different positions, that kind of forces our hands sometimes on can we play guys or do we need to play them?"

To his point, the offense has been in practice recently without tight ends Ian Thomas and Tommy Tremble, along with guard Damien Lewis and rookie wideout Xavier Legette at times. So, if he wasn't going to see them all, it made it less likely to roll part of the group out there.

The Bills have already declared they weren't playing their starters this week (quarterback Josh Allen has played a grand total of eight snaps in the preseason), but Canales said Sean McDermott's decisions didn't impact his.

"It does not; it's really just about the strength and health of our units and if we can get a good look at the guys and get them that game experience, which we all know is so valuable,"

The Panthers had just taken around 60 snaps against the Jets last Thursday in nearly-live conditions (quarterbacks were still off-limits), but Canales said there was still a difference.

"Big difference, tackling to the ground," he said. "So you're going to get an elevated speed, just naturally. We're pushing our guys to go full speed all the time, but as we know, they get into this competitive moment, and when the jersey color changes and it's someone new, there's an excitement to it. There's just naturally an excitement to that part of it, but we're not tackling to the ground.

"So there's still a big difference. It's amazing to me always the levels of speed that our players take when it goes from the most competitive thing you can create in practice to what happens in the game, and the adrenaline and all those things and the lights and all the excitement of that."

— With Dane Jackson (hamstring) on the shelf for an extended time, and Lamar Jackson waived-injured after suffering a knee injury Saturday night, the Panthers are looking for answers at the position.

And because of the nature of the calendar, they're probably looking for a starter for the first few games of the regular season.

So on Tuesday, they got a look at several combinations. Jaycee Horn has one side locked down, but Dicaprio Bootle and D'Shawn Jamison rotated in on the other side with the first defense. At one point late, Horn was on the side, with Bootle and Jamison working with the ones.

"What a great opportunity, right?" Canales said. "What a great chance for these guys to apply all the things that they've been learning, the things they've been going through for camp, and especially just all the valuable reps. That's information we have on D'Shawn Jamison, on Dicaprio Bootle, on Lamar Jackson. And then we had two corners who just showed up today (Chris Wilcox and Quandre Mosely), and so we get to evaluate new people as coaches. I hate when guys get hurt, and we don't have them, but then there's an excitement that I also have to go, hey, let's, let's check out a couple of these new guys, you know, and see if they can help us going forward.

"But it's about the opportunity, and it's a great opportunity for them to showcase what they can do as we make decisions after this next game."

Canales also said they liked what they saw last week from Chau Smith-Wade outside. The fifth-round pick has been working mostly at nickel this offseason but spent his entire college career playing outside.

"He did fantastic," Canales said. "He's played outside his whole career, he had a little bit of nickel exposure, but that's the guy we drafted to be able to play outside and we're counting on him to help us in some capacity this year, so he really showed us something cool."

Of course, the Panthers also have first dibs on any player waived next week and are expected to be active in that market as well.

— Canales is beginning to hedge a bit when asked about injury statuses as he gets closer to the start of the regular season (after saying Dane Jackson would miss "six-weeks-ish" last week), but the news was mostly good Tuesday.

A number of players who have been out or limited lately were practicing, including Diontae Johnson, Jadeveon Clowney, Tommy Tremble, Legette, Chandler Zavala, Cade Mays, and LaBryan Ray.

Johnson left practice briefly, hobbling over to the sidelines after a fall, but was back in drills moments later, and Canales said he was "fine."

"This week is so critical, so important for us as we continue to ramp the guys up, getting ready for game play," he said. "Really, this is the last week to attack it in terms of a volume standpoint because we come back after this game, we've got a bunch of tough decisions to make, and we get really tighter with our roster.

"And that's a chance for us to keep sharp on our football, keep the condition we've developed. But really, this is the week to really establish; you guys are ready to play, and they looked great today. They handled a significant volume that we threw at them today, getting them back out there quickly with both groups, the ones and the twos, to just keep working that volume. So I was really excited about their response."

— With Lewis back in full pads and fully participating again, they get the chance to continue to build the chemistry along the first offensive line with center Austin Corbett and right guard Robert Hunt. And Lewis clearly thinks that can be the foundation of something.

"Well, you know, they ain't built Rome overnight, but it's a process, it's just a process every week," he said. "We're going to keep coming in here and just keep grinding, keep pounding, stacking blocks until we get it right. But it's there, I'm telling you, I'm excited for the season."

Asked specifically what he was excited about, and Lewis said the attitude they're learning.

"Mindset and attitude, you've got to have that mindset, that warrior mentality," he said. "Mean, tough, and nasty. I feel like I told you, I'm mean, Austin's tough, and Rob's nasty, and we bring it all."

They might need to get nametags, since the order keeps changing. When he got here in March and starting talking about the three identifiers, he was nasty, Corbett was mean, and Hunt was tough.

Regardless of the order, the point stands.

"That three in the middle got to be firm so that quarterback can have time and see down the field," Lewis explained this spring. "I think that three need to be stout in front. Mean, tough, and nasty."

— Rookie linebacker Trevin Wallace had an interception in practice Tuesday after his pick-six against Aaron Rodgers last Thursday. The third-round pick got more work when veteran Shaq Thompson was out, and Canales said he's impressed in that time.

"I think he's just a natural football player first and foremost," Canales said. "And while he still has a ways to go learning the scheme and doing all that, when he's comfortable, he's big, and he's fast, and he's got great hands. And that's such a rare combination at the inside linebacker spot, but we really have three fantastic linebackers in terms of catching the ball with Shaq, with Josey Jewell and with Trevin. Let me give a shout-out to (assistant coach) Pete Hansen, you know, and work the drills and, and making sure they're constantly coming out of their breaks, catching footballs, and ball awareness is such a huge thing for our defense. They've done a fantastic job of emphasizing it and then the talent comes into play.

"So he's got great eyes with his QB's intentions and finishing on the ball."