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David Newton, ESPN Staff Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Second-year quarterback Bryce Young and the rest of the Carolina Panthers starters will make their preseason debut Saturday against the Buffalo Bills in the final game before the regular season.
This will be Young’s first live action against another team outside of a joint practice against the New York Jets in the new system implemented by first-year head coach Dave Canales.
Canales decided to play starters on offense and defense for the first time this preseason even though the Bills are playing their reserves in the 1 p.m. contest at New Highmark Stadium.
Canales did not play starters in the first two preseason games, losses to the New England Patriots and Jets, due to a few injuries and the team not having a complete “grasp of the system.”
“So it was like, ‘Why don’t we wait another week to get a stronger group to put out there,'” he said Thursday. “Watching the practices, watching those first couple of games and seeing, ‘OK, if feels like we have a good grasp of what we’re doing so we can go out there and be confident.’
“I didn’t want to go out there and just kind of stumble around stuff as we’re still trying to figure out our scheme.”
Canales didn’t commit to how long he would play the starters past the first series or two. He said the hope is everyone will play, including starting wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who sat out Thursday’s practice with an illness.
“I’d love to get them sweaty,” he said. “So we’ll have to play that one by ear.”
Canales also hopes to get backup quarterback Andy Dalton some reps.
Young said earlier in the week he trusted whatever decision the coaching staff made about playing him Saturday and he’d be “confident” entering the regular season regardless.
Young is coming off a historically bad season for a quarterback, particularly one taken with the No. 1 overall pick. He had only 11 touchdown passes, tied for the fewest in NFL history for any quarterback with at least 500 attempts.
“We’re very, very multiple,” Young said of Canales’ offense, which helped Baker Mayfield have a career season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year. “It’s a good mixture of run, play pass, dropback movement. Some creative stuff that we do as well.
“Just being able to have different ways to attack similar things, that’s really important.”