Panthers Camp — Aug 23: Young Went 5-of-6 With His Guards Back

Bryce Young went 5 of 6 for 49 yards on Friday night in Jacksonville and piloted a 58-yard touchdown march with five first downs — one week after his preseason opener produced three straight three-and-outs and 11 total yards. The difference had names: starting guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, who sat the opener with injuries, were back in front of him, per Kole Noble at A to Z Sports, and Noble charted Young 4-for-4 on his second series with completions to Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker. Carolina won 34 to 17, and the caveats go on the record with the stat line: Jacksonville sat its entire starting group for the second straight week, per Mark Long at the Associated Press, and lightning ended the game with two minutes left. Young's own read, per Long: "For us as a team, an identity, it was definitely a step in the right direction." Dave Canales counted penalties, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk: "I was really proud of the group in terms of just playing clean ball; five penalties, pretty clean day."

The drive ended with the night's biggest moment. Jonathon Brooks punched in a one-yard touchdown — his first in professional football, 20 months and two anterior cruciate ligament tears after his last score at Texas — then pointed to the forearm tattoo honoring his father, who died in March 2022, and made a heart toward the sky. "Just to give a sign to my father, because I want to show the world, I want him to live through me," Brooks said, per Kassidy Hill at the team's site. Young: "The amount of work he's put in since he's been here... you can't even describe it. He's a special guy." Canales said seeing Brooks "running aggressively was so important." The complete file includes the flaw Noble logged — a missed pass-protection assignment on third down — and the reason Brooks is running with the first team at all: Chuba Hubbard's hamstring, of which more below.

The game came two days after the louder Young showing. At Wednesday's joint practice in Jacksonville, Noble's notes had Young hitting McMillan for two touchdowns among three catches in red-zone work alone, including a 20-yard score over coverage, with McMillan saying, "Bryce just puts it into a spot where only I can get it. He just made it easy for me." Safety Tre'von Moehrig supplied the session's flashpoint, a big hit on Jaguars receiver Tim Jones across the middle that sparked a skirmish. The day's bad half belonged to Ejiro Evero's defense: Jacksonville's tight ends scored three red-zone touchdowns in the same drills, a coverage issue Noble called recurring.

Friday also moved the roster battles that cut day will settle. John Metchie caught all five of his targets; Jimmy Horn Jr. stacked a 39-yard end-around, a 29-yard kickoff return and a 15-yard catch; rookie Roc Taylor caught a 16-yard touchdown from Kenny Pickett; and David Moore had a costly drop, per Noble — backup-versus-backup evidence, but that is exactly the evidence receiver-room cuts run on, and the room got more crowded Monday when Darren Waller officially signed his one-year deal. Waller spent the week in return-to-play mode, working off to the side, per Noble, with Canales offering "He looks like he's in phenomenal shape" and Waller admitting the playbook still reads like "Mandarin Chinese." Nothing in Friday's game reporting has him playing. At running back, AJ Dillon added a seven-yard touchdown run and work in punt coverage, per Noble — a veteran making a roster case in the margins. And rookie right tackle Monroe Freeling, starting with Taylor Moton sidelined, drew credit from Noble for opening run lanes alongside Hunt.

The ledger of who wasn't out there, kept short. Hubbard sat again Friday, among roughly a dozen held out per the Associated Press, and we found no reporting that he practiced this week — Canales said after the injury he was "very confident" Hubbard would be ready for game one, and that confidence now rests on the one week left before the roster deadline. Xavier Legette is the week's new entry: he twisted an ankle in Wednesday's practice and missed the game, day-to-day, with Canales saying, "He got his ankle twisted up, he has some soreness in his foot... we're going to get him back going little by little," per Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk. One old thread closed off the field: the NFL Players Association reviewed video of rookie rusher Nic Scourton's season-ending ACL tear from the first day of camp and concluded Carolina broke no acclimation-period rules, calling it simply an unfortunate injury, per Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk.

Back in July we previewed Carolina as two true things at once: a defending division champion whose 7-and-3 record in one-score games sits in the least repeatable category we track, and a front office that spent the spring buying what regression can't repossess — a pass rush, a rebuilt line, a medical lottery ticket in the backfield. We've been checking that preview against camp every week, and this one mostly paid the buyers: the lottery ticket scored, the restored interior turned last week's mess into a functional Young sample, and the repeatability question stays parked where August can't reach it. One more check before the season.

What to watch: whether Hubbard returns to practice before the Sunday, August 30 cut to 53 — the checkable version of Canales's game-one confidence — and the receiver-room decisions with Legette's foot unresolved and the preseason finale against Houston on Friday. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._