CHARLOTTE – To play or not to play, that is the question Dave Canales must answer this week around Bryce Young. The quarterback hasn't taken a snap in the first two preseason games this year, and whether or not he will this Saturday against the Bills is yet to be decided. Young and the starters could play, they could not. It's a decision that can't be made on a Tuesday.
"I am open to playing our guys this week," Canales revealed after practice. "We have to look at what does that group look like if we put everybody out there? Are there enough of those guys to say, man, this is valuable for us to get these reps.
Whatever is decided, Young is remaining comfortable and flexible ahead of the Saturday afternoon game.
"Obviously, (the coaches) manage the team, they know what they're doing, so, for me and for us, we trust whatever it is that they want to do and whatever their coaches calls are, we're going to be ready for that."
The decision, as Canales alluded to, is still to be made about all starters playing, not just Young. But as the starting quarterback, he is the most scrutinized decision. Despite the outside narratives, the Bills deciding to not play any of their starters, or the fact roughly half of teams have not played their starting QBs in the preseason this year (17 did not play in Week 1, 20 did not play in Week 2, and overall, 13 teams have not played their starter at all thus far) Canales is committed to making the decision relative to his team, and nothing else. The Bills have announced they won't play their starters. That won't affect the Panthers plan, Canales promised.
As long as his team is changing for the better every day, that's what matters.
"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," Canales said. "So I was, I was really excited about their response."
Young played 54 snaps in the preseason as a rookie last season, 28 percent of the total offense. While he is under a new head coach and a different scheme, and coming off a 2-15 season, the passer promised that he's not worried about being ready Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints, preseason or naught.
The Panthers finished installing their offense about 10 days ago, giving Young and playmakers time to settle into it, and really play around with what's possible in the playbook. Now, with OTAs and training camp under his belt, he's "very comfortable in the offense," as it plays to his strengths.
"I think we do a great job of taking what the defense gives, but also dictating the terms of, of what we want to do," he said. "I think we're very, very multiple. It's a good mixture of good mixture of run, play pass, dropback movement. Some, creative stuff that we do as well and I think just being able to have different ways to get and attack similar things. I think that that's really important. That's something we talk about a lot as a unit, making sure that we can be as, we could try to be complex in how we make things happen."
Young and company also had the added advantage of a joint practice last week against the New York Jets, giving the offense upwards of 60 game like snaps, whilst in a controlled environment. Still, there are certain things that can be simulated but not replicated from a game. So if Young does play on Saturday, Canales will be making sure his quarterback is prepared more so in between snaps, as opposed to the actual play itself.
"Operation," Canales said of as to what he'd been looking for in his second-year passer. "Just want to see things run smoothly. I'd want to see just the communication, the in between drives, conversations, all that stuff that is so valuable. And he's kind of been just around all those things as we've been doing it the last few weeks, hopefully to pick up some of those things."
The Panthers placed quarterback Jake Luton on Injured Reserve Monday, ahead of the 53 man cutdown next week. That means the Panthers are back to three quarterbacks; Young, Andy Dalton and rookie Jack Plummer, the latter of whom has played the majority of snaps in the first two games. Asked if Luton's injury would make a difference in deciding who plays Saturday, Canales said, "it could," and the team needs to continue to evaluate Andy Dalton through the week. The backup missed two weeks with a quad injury. Regardless, "Jack's playing."
As to whether Bryce Young will be playing as well remains to be seen, but he won't dwell on the decision.
"I trust in the coaching staff," Young said. "They have our best interests at heart."
Check out the best photos from Panthers practice today.
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