Haynes King wasn’t drafted despite being the ACC Player of the Year last season. The Panthers signed the former Georgia Tech star quarterback as a free agent, and he showed Thursday night maybe someone should have drafted him.
Third on the team’s depth chart, King replaced veteran Kenny Pickett with 9:38 remaining in the first half and the Panthers trailing 14-7.
King completed 21 of 34 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, a 15-yarder and a 5-yarder.
He also ran for 39 yards on three carries, including scoring on a 5-yard jaunt on the final play of the game. It gave the Panthers a 33-30 victory.
In one of the most entertaining Hall of Fame Games ever, the Cardinals gained 425 yards and the Panthers 378. Rookie Carson Beck started for Arizona and went 15-of-19 for 188 yards and a touchdown before turning it over to fourth-string quarterback Kedon Slovis, who was 9-of-10 for 106 yards and a touchdown.
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Carson Beck has played in much bigger games than the Hall of Fame Game, so it probably should come as no surprise that the lights weren’t too bright or the stage too big.
Beck started for the Cardinals in the first preseason game of the NFL season.
He showed up and showed out.
Beck played a little more than a half, completing 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. He hit Reggie Virgil for what would have been a big gain on his final throw of the night in the third quarter, but Isaiah Simmons knocked it out.
He directed scoring drives of 96, 50 and 61 yards, throwing a 5-yard fade to a well-covered Simi Fehoko for a touchdown on the team’s second scoring drive.
The Cardinals were tied with the Panthers 17-17 when Beck left with 10:15 remaining in the third quarter.
Fourth-stringer Kedon Slovis replaced Beck.
The Panthers waived wide receiver Ainias Smith with an injury settlement and released guard Saahdiq Charles with an injury settlement, the team announced Thursday.
Charles went on injured reserve Wednesday with a calf injury, opening a roster spot for the return of offensive lineman Jake Curhan.
Charles, 27, spent most of last season on the Panthers’ practice squad, appearing in two games. He saw action on 10 special teams snaps.
Smith went on injured reserve Wednesday with an undisclosed injury.
The Eagles selected him in the fifth round of the 2024 draft. Smith appeared in seven games, starting one, and totaled seven receptions for 41 yards and one touchdown. He spent all of 2025 on the Panthers’ practice squad.
The Panthers placed offensive lineman Saahdiq Charles on injured reserve Wednesday, the team announced. Charles, who had been working with the first team with starters Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis out, has a calf injury.
Charles, 27, spent most of last season on the Panthers’ practice squad, appearing in two games. He saw action on 10 special teams snaps.
The Panthers signed offensive lineman Jake Curhan and defensive tackle Parker Petersen.
Curhan was signed off the Cardinals’ practice squad last year and appeared in 13 games, starting one. He has familiarity with the coaching staff from his time in Seattle.
Curhan, 28, has appeared in 53 career games, with 12 starts over five seasons.
Petersen, an undrafted rookie from Wisconsin, was waived last week. He will give the team another body familiar with the defense after defensive end LaBryan Ray’s retirement on Tuesday.
Carson Beck had “no clue” he was going to start the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game until this week. He was the last to know.
As (almost) everyone knows, veteran quarterbacks don’t generally play in the Hall of Fame Game.
The third-round rookie is new to this thing, though.
“I thought I was going to play, but I had no expectations,” Beck said Tuesday, via Darren Urban of the team website. “Obviously our schedule has been crazy right now. But I’m looking forward to it.”
Coach Mike LaFleur has not publicly addressed playing time for his quarterbacks, but with Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew expected to spend the night on the sideline, Beck likely sees most of the playing time. Fourth-stringer Kedon Slovis also could play.
Beck said he hasn’t been nervous for a game since he was 8 years old and playing for his Pop Warner city championship, and that won’t change Thursday night.
“It’s a game at the end of the day,” Beck said. “Not really any nerves. More excitement than anything.”
Beck, 24, spent six seasons in college and played in the national championship game last season for the University of Miami. So, he should be unfazed playing a preseason game against the Panthers on Thursday.
“That’s one of the best things about him, all of his experience,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “His age, his understanding that things are going to go good, [and] they are going to go bad. You can never get too excited; you can never get too frustrated.”
The Panthers will be playing in the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday night, but defensive lineman LaBryan Ray won’t be getting any snaps against the Cardinals.
Ray won’t be getting any snaps in the rest of the team’s preseason games either. The Panthers announced on Tuesday that they have placed Ray on the reserve/retired list.
Ray played in 46 games for the Panthers over the last three seasons. He had 73 tackles and a sack on over 1,100 defensive snaps.
The Panthers also announced that they have signed wide receivers Roc Taylor and Elijah Cooks. Wideouts Gabriel Benyard and Ainias Smith were waived, which leaves Carolina with one open roster spot.
Cardinals fans will get their first chance to see rookie quarterback Carson Beck in game action on Thursday night.
Head coach Mike LaFleur announced on Tuesday that Beck will get the start against the Panthers in the Hall of Fame Game. LaFleur did not lay out the plan for the rest of the game for the quarterback spot, but it seems unlikely that Jacoby Brissett or Gardner Minshew would get tabbed for any work with the third-round pick starting the game.
LaFleur did not hold a press conference on Tuesday, but said on Monday that he thought Beck had his best practice of camp over the weekend.
“I thought it was probably the best, and I thought I think our second and third groups have operated a pretty high clip thus far,” LaFleur said, via the team’s website. “Probably the best that they have operated in terms of just you know getting set and going. … They were mimicking the plays that we’re going to run on Thursday night, so that they have a good feel for it.”
Kedon Slovis is the fourth quarterback on the roster in Arizona and will likely see playing time after Beck’s night in Canton comes to an end.
One of Carolina’s key offensive players had an injury scare during Tuesday’s practice, but should be OK sooner than later.
Head coach Dave Canales told reporters in his press conference that receiver Xavier Legette appeared to have suffered a stinger on a rough landing after making a catch during the session.
“Made a really nice play, high pointed it … came down really hard,” Canales said. “Went in, evaluated him, cleared him of a concussion. But it looks like a stinger, so we’re going to evaluate him more over the next day or so and make sure he’s in the right spot.
“He wouldn’t be playing in this game, but we have a nice little window to get him turned around and just see where he’s at.”
The Panthers are playing the Hall of Fame Game against the Cardinals on Thursday night, with their following practice slated for Sunday.
Legette, the No. 32 overall pick in 2024, caught 35 passes for 363 yards with three touchdowns in 15 games last season.
The Netflix lineup for next month’s 49ers-Rams game has been finalized.
Netflix announced on Monday that Nick Foles and Clay Matthews will join the studio show for the Week 1 game in Australia, along with host Elle Duncan and analyst Michael Irvin.
While the announcement focuses only on the first game, it’s possible if not likely that Foles and Matthews will be back for the other four 2026 Netflix games. Duncan has said that Netflix will have a consistent studio presence for all of its games this season.
Working the 49ers-Rams game will be Noah Eagle and Luke Kuechly, with former NFL Network host MJ Acosta serving as the reporter. Again, it’s likely we’ll see and hear the same trio for the Thanksgiving Eve game, one of the two Christmas games, and the Netflix Week 18 Saturday game.
After streaming Christmas games in 2024 and 2025, Netflix expanded its footprint to five annual games on a deal that runs through 2029. Although Netflix has said it doesn’t want a full-season package, many things can and will change over the next four years.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young is eligible for an extension after completing his third season.
It doesn’t sound like one is coming any time soon.
The No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 draft, Young is under contract through 2027 after Carolina picked up his fifth-year option in the spring.
Panthers executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis spoke with the media in a Monday press conference, saying the club will keep extension discussions on Young and everyone else in-house. But Tilis characterized the situation as positive for Carolina.
“I would say [Young] ascended last year and there’s still room for him to ascend,” Tilis said. “His ceiling, currently, is unknown and I think that’s exciting for us. He’s working hard to get himself there.”
Tilis noted that the continuity with Dave Canales in his third year as head coach has put Young in a good situation to succeed in 2026.
“The team is better, the coaches are good, and Bryce is putting in the work, too,” Tilis said. “So, it’s all there. And we’ll just see how the year plays out. I think we’re all really excited for what Bryce is going to show and how the team’s going to be.”
Tilis was asked directly if seeing how the year plays out means Young will not receive a new deal before the start of the regular season, but Tilis again noted that the team will keep discussions in-house.
While it has not all been with the same regime, Young already has three years of experience — which is often enough time to have a clear picture of who a player is and what his ceiling might be. But Tilis said that in Young’s case, he wouldn’t necessarily think that he should have a better read on the QB’s future.
“The team is growing, too,” Tilis said. “So, he’s going to ascend as the team ascends and vice versa — the team is going to get better as he does. So, it’s all good.”
Young, 25, has started 44 games through his first three seasons. He’s completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 8,291 yards with 49 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. Last season was his best, as he finished 2025 with a 63.6 percent completion rate, 3,011 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.
