Panthers quarterback Bryce Young had a solid day on Saturday. His new coach took a step farther.
“Hell of a day,” Dave Canales said after the preseason finale, via David Newton of ESPN.com.
Young, in one drive, led the Panthers on 12-play, 85-yard march for a touchdown.
“Couldn’t have dreamt it better,’' Canales said. “A fourth-down conversion in there, but saw him extend plays with his legs, keeping his eyes down the field, finding guys.’'
Canales praised Young for his "[p]oise, eyes down the field, that aggressive nature but being able to do it within the confines of what’s the smartest thing to do in this situation.”
“It felt great for all of us to go out and play against a different team,’' Young said. “We got a couple of different situations we got to have, which was great for us.’'
Whatever they do and however they do it, they need to win. Last year was a 2-15, drink-throwing disaster.
It remains to be seen how Panthers quarterback Bryce Young starts his second regular season. He ended his second preseason on a high note.
Young led the Carolina offense to a touchdown, via a 12-play, 85-yard drive against the Bills.
He completed six of eight passes for 70 yards. The touchdown pass went to tight end Jordan Matthews, covering eight yards.
There’s plenty of pressure on the Panthers generally and Young specifically after a disastrous 2023 campaign. Making matters worse for the first overall pick was the fact that the guy taken second — Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud — took his team to a division title and a playoff wine.
The Seahawks sent cornerback Michael Jackson to Carolina for rookie linebacker Michael Barrett. Barrett played at Michigan, spending 2021 playing for Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald when Macdonald was the Wolverines’ defensive coordinator.
“Guys in Carolina spoke highly of him,” Macdonald said, via John Boyle of the team website. “Mike was very productive at Michigan obviously. We had a chance to evaluate him coming out [of college]. He was playing two years after we left to go back to Baltimore. Just excited to have him in here, and he’s got a great opportunity to come compete and earn himself a spot here for hopefully a while.”
Macdonald said Barrett could play in Saturday’s preseason game.
The Panthers made Barrett a seventh-round pick this spring. He spent the past six years at Michigan, where he totaled 115 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks.
The Panthers traded away one linebacker on Thursday and then they added a different one later in the day.
Aaron Beasley has been signed to the 90-man roster in Carolina. The team traded seventh-round pick Michael Barrett to the Seahawks for cornerback Michael Jackson and they also announced that they have waived offensive lineman Badara Traore with an injury designation.
Beasley worked out for the Panthers before being signed. He was undrafted out of Tennessee earlier this year and he posted 145 tackles over his final two seasons with the Volunteers.
The Panthers and the rest of the league’s teams have until Tuesday afternoon to pare their rosters down to 53 players, so Beasley may not be on the roster long but he’ll have some chance to show the Panthers he’s worth keeping around.
The Seahawks have told cornerback Michael Jackson to beat it, sending him to Carolina in a trade for linebacker Michael Barrett.
The player-for-player swap gives both teams a chance to get a look at a player they have interest in before deciding whether to keep him on the 53-player roster beyond Tuesday’s cutdowns. Jackson wasn’t going to make the Seahawks and Barrett wasn’t going to make the Panthers anyway, so it’s a no-risk proposition for both teams.
The 27-year-old Jackson was a fifth-round pick of the Cowboys in 2019 and also spent time with the Lions and Patriots before signing with the Seahawks in 2021. Last year he played in all 17 games, getting on the field for 40 percent of the Seahawks’ defensive snaps and 51 percent of special teams snaps.
The Panthers drafted Barrett out of Michigan in the seventh round this year. He’s 24 years old, having spent six years playing for now-Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. He’s notable for having played in 61 games won by Michigan, the most of anyone in program history.
