North Charlotte Today

CHARLOTTE—The Panthers plan to play their starters on Saturday against the Buffalo Bills, according to head coach Dave Canales. Speaking on Thursday, Canales outlined his strategy for the final preseason game.

"My hope is to get the starters out there early in the game, get them some exposure," Canales said. "The importance of it to me is how valuable the night before prep is. Waking up in the morning, we have a 1 o'clock kick, we got a lot of those this year. So just the body readiness."

He emphasized the significance of pregame routines and sideline communications during these games. "This is a great opportunity to go through their pregame routines with each other, to have the communications on the sidelines as we go into the first drive there and just gather information," he added.

Canales confirmed that he hopes all starters will participate. To date, no starters have played any snaps in the first two preseason games, with over 30 players sitting out each time.

"Honestly, it was really just about the grasp of the system," Canales explained regarding earlier decisions not to play starters. He mentioned strong practice sessions and an effective week against the Jets as factors influencing his decision.

"But for this week," he continued, "I'd love to get them sweaty. I'd love to get them the full work of coming play in and play out."

Regarding quarterback Bryce Young's playing time, Canales stated that no set number had been determined yet and that it might depend on snap counts or drive counts.

Veteran quarterback Andy Dalton has also not played in preseason due to a quad injury but has returned to practice recently. Canales noted that Dalton's status would be evaluated closely over the next 24 hours.

"Andy is one that we really do have to talk about tonight, talk about tomorrow and really see what the smartest thing to do for the Panthers is," Canales said. "I would love to see him play...so he'll be really probably a day-to-day decision there."

Despite Buffalo announcing earlier this week that their starters would not play on Saturday after participating in previous weeks' games (with quarterback Josh Allen playing eight snaps), Canales stated that this decision would not affect his plans for his team.