CHARLOTTE — With one preseason game left to play, the Panthers will be rolling their starters out versus Buffalo. Dave Canales said that is the "hope," and currently the plan for Saturday, albeit a fluid one, in terms of how many snaps and/or drives per starter.

While offense and quarterbacks will be a focus, starters playing also means the defensive one's will be on the field. Defensive passing game coordinator Jonathan Cooley isn't concerned about the actual act of playing in a sanctioned preseason game versus not, as long as there are game reps taken by Week 1.

"I think it's player to player," Cooley said on Thursday. "Like in L A, we didn't play any of our guys during the preseason. Last year (here in Carolina) we played our guys during preseason. It's mainly the process getting them ready to be go in September 8th. And so, I lend myself towards either one.

"I think some guys really want to play because they don't want to be tired during the first two-minute drill against the Saints. So like if they're for that, I'm for them playing, but availability is the most important thing to me. So as a collective, the thing that can make guys most available and feel like they're ready to go September 8th with their conditioning, I'm all for."

One of those potential starters is safety Jordan Fuller. For the veteran DB, the chance to play in the preseason, even if only for a drive, is a chance to work out any kinks ahead of Week 1, particularly in the pregame.

"It's a little dress rehearsal, another opportunity to get on the grass and have fun. Most of all, it's a blessing to be able to play this game at the highest level," Fuller reflected. "So just get out there with my teammates for the first time, so Week 1 isn't our first actual time getting out there.

"It helps you shake off for Week 1 if that makes sense, I guess those like pregame jitters, you always have some pregame jitters and stuff like that, but first game of the year it's a little bit different. So getting those jitters out of the way, it'll be beneficial for all of us I think."

— While starters as a whole are slated to play Saturday, there are a few that might still see little to no time, depending on the next 24 hours. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson did not practice on Thursday, due to illness, according to Dave Canales.

"He felt sick," Canales said of his pass catcher. "So we just wanted to make sure we quarantine him a little bit just to make sure he doesn't spread whatever he's got going through. And then on top of that just for him, just to get him some rest, get him some recovery and then we'll go day by day to figure out if he's going to feel good enough to go on Saturday."

Tight end Tommy Tremble recently returned to work after dealing with a hamstring injury. So while it's no longer keeping him from practicing, it is in the back of coaches and trainers minds.

"So we have him on a pitch count for these practices," Canales revealed, after Tremble left Thursday's practice early. "We're ramping him back up. So this is just kind of normal soreness, this is his third day in a row.

"And for Tommy, of course...with an injury, when anything starts to feel a little bit different, it's concerning. I can feel that about him, just there in the practice and we're like, this is good. We've gotten great work with him for three days. We felt good about it. We didn't need him to finish the rest of practice."

Receiver Adam Thielen was sporting a calf wrap at practice, which Canales called a result of being kicked in the leg during joint practice with the New York Jets last Thursday.

"He's just been managing that for the last couple of days," Canales explained. "So just keeping that thing warm, keeping it compact, you know, but he looked great out there today."

Offensive lineman Yosh Nijman was in uniform and lightly participating Thursday. Canales said Nijman is still on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list, but he's steadily adding in more work.

"Really encouraged by his movement, his athleticism, his power, all the things we saw, the reason he's here. He looks like he's trending in the right direction," Canales said. "But again, it's like now it's a matter of volume, just continuing to push the volume of what he can handle. So I was really excited during special teams period, I looked over there and (offensive line coach) Joe Gilbert's working with him and he's punching the bag. Joe had a great report about where he's at after practice."

— The playlist on Thursday was hotly contested both during and after the practice session. Fuller took his time before offering the diplomatic answer, "I wasn't completely tapped into the playlist. It started off hot. I remember in warm ups, like we were feeling good."

It provided a little bit of whiplash, jumping genres and eras, but for the most part felt a little bit like "Throwback Thursday," with songs from early to mid-2000's, something which Cooley was offended could be considered "old" now.

"Isn't that crazy? Like "Go DJ" (by Lil Wayne) is a throwback song," Cooley lamented. But starting with the 2004 classic also helped Cooley get pumped up for the start of practice.

"I love that and so that took me back to high school...that was definitely on my pregame, college playlist. We had some Jeezy on there, which is like one of my like Super Bowl songs. It hit a lag after that."

The "lag" featured primarily newer rap songs, but then, said Cooley, "it turned back up when we got some J. Cole."

Fuller, born in 1998, said of the "throwback" songs "Those were songs, I don't know the words to all of them—I'm little young—but, no, they're very recognizable," which is the nicest way to saying the rudest thing possible to someone who graduated high school in 2008.

Since arrive, Canales has been big on letting the players pick the music, even putting out a sign-up sheet where players can list their request. When it's the head coach's turn to take the aux cord though, he said everyone will know it's him.

"If you're hearing Hawaiian reggae, if you're hearing Bob Marley," Canales started, "and then my flip side is, if you're hearing some good like David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Deorro, a little something with a little more beat to it, bringing up the tempo of it, then it's coming from, that's part of my playlist."