Dave Canales leaves uncertainty around Bryce Young’s injury, and it could be something that impacts the team beyond Week 7
The Carolina Panthers starting quarterback was injured late in Week 7 win.
The Carolina Panthers pulled off a third straight win in Week 7 against the New York Jets to improve to 4-3 in 2025, but did walk out of Sunday’s game with one major loss.
Quarterback Bryce Young left the game late with an ankle injury and was replaced by veteran Andy Dalton to close out the 13-6 win. Young finished the game 15-of-25 passing with 138 yards and one touchdown.
After the game, Panthers’ head coach Dave Canales left the initial extent of the injury up in the air for the time being until the team learns more.
“We’re evaluating him for the right ankle,” Canales told reporters after the win. “We’re taking all the information and we’re going to look at him when we get home some more and see where we’re at.”
Expectations if Bryce Young’s injury lingers into Week 8 or beyond
With this kind of potential injury, Young’s status over the next few days will be something to watch, and the tests later today and into Monday morning will be deciding factors. If Young indeed is forced to miss time, the team is obviously comfortable with Dalton starting in his place in this offense.
“We’ll look at all that and see what the best version of us is, but right now, it’s running the football and Andy can handle all those things,” Canales added. “The pass game, the reps, the time on task with the group that we have, we gotta stay within the core of our system. Andy’s fully involved in all of that. If he does play, that’ll be the mode.”
Even before Young went down, the Panthers fully leaned into the run game based on how the offense looked the last two weeks with Rico Dowdle as the lead back. With Chuba Hubbard back in the fold in Week 7, the running back duo accounted for 110 rushing yards against the Jets.
“It felt great for me to know, whoever they run for, I expect great execution out of these guys,” Canales said. “Chuba even had a couple of excellent runs on the perimeter with screens and did some pretty good yards in that regard, too. Being able to be versatile with our play passes, our screens, and our runs is critical for us to have success.”
Even still, Dalton is a veteran arm and could elevate the passing game for the Panthers’ offense if he’s given full clearance to let it fly. But sticking with the ground game as the focal point is the right call.
The Panthers will face the Buffalo Bills in Week 8 followed by the Green Bay Packers in Week 9, so two big matchups coming up on the schedule before a divisional matchup against the New Orleans Saints. The team will, of course, be hoping for good news when it comes to the health of QB1.
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