The Carolina Panthers won’t need to monitor starting quarterback Bryce Young’s status throughout the weekend ahead of their Week 9 road matchup against the Green Bay Packers.
Young (ankle) practiced in a full capacity this week, and he was left off the final injury report on Friday.
Dave Canales feels good about Bryce Young in Week 9
Head coach Dave Canales said Young “looked great” this week in practice. The third-year quarterback will make his return on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Backup Andy Dalton (right thumb) was listed as “questionable” on Friday. However, Canales said he expected the 38-year-old passer to be Young’s immediate backup on Sunday.
While a lot has changed over the past three seasons, Young had arguably his best performance as a rookie against the Packers in 2023. During that 33-30 home loss, Young completed 23 of 36 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 110.0 passer rating in the shootout.
Now, Young will look to repeat that performance — hopefully with a different outcome — at Lambeau Field.
The Mike White injury policy
With Dalton dealing with a broken right thumb on his throwing hand, the team promoted recently acquired quarterback Mike White from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.
The transaction will allow the Panthers to use White as an emergency third QB on Sunday if everything goes as planned against Green Bay. If Dalton were to miss the game, White would back up the Young without taking up one of the two standard elevations from the practice squad.
With the Panthers dealing with multiple injuries elsewhere, those two elevations could be used on different positions on the roster. If White is the emergency quarterback, he won’t count toward the 48-man game day roster, but he still can dress for the game and fill in for both quarterbacks ahead in the pecking order.
Who else is on the Panthers final injury report?
Right tackle Taylor Moton (knee), left guard Damien Lewis (oblique), safety Nick Scott (groin) and linebacker Trevin Wallace (shoulder) were all listed as questionable heading into Week 9’s game. Moton and Wallace were injured in the 40-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills last week.
Wallace and Moton missed Wednesday’s practice but were able to participate Thursday (limited) and Friday (limited). Lewis and Scott were full participants on Friday.
As expected, center Cade Mays (ankle) and rookie outside linebacker Princely Umanmielen (ankle) were ruled out for the weekend. Both missed the entire week of practice after getting banged up against Buffalo.
With both sidelined, look for Austin Corbett to replace Mays at starting center, while Trevis Gipson, who just arrived Wednesday, will fill the void left by Umanmielen in the outside linebacker rotation.
The Panthers could also call up a lineman and/or linebacker from the practice squad if Moton and/or Wallace are on the wrong side of questionable heading into Sunday.
Backup guard Chandler Zavala (knee), who remains on injured reserve, was listed as “questionable” as well. He isn’t on the 53-man roster but could be activated on Saturday to fill in at right guard.
The team would need to make a corresponding move to put Zavala back on the main roster.