Panthers QB Bryce Young ‘day to day’ with ankle injury; status vs. Bills unclear
The quick returns on the health of Bryce Young are back — and they leave his status for this weekend’s game against the Buffalo Bills up in the air.
Head coach Dave Canales told reporters Monday that his starting quarterback is officially “day to day” after sustaining an injury to his right ankle after the Carolina Panthers’ 13-6 win over the New York Jets on Sunday. Canales said that the team will look at Young each day and test the ankle different ways to see if “we can get him back out there on Wednesday in some way, shape or form.”
“I saw him this morning, talked to him and he’s like, ‘Let’s push this thing, let’s see what we got,’” Canales said of Young. “We’re going to try to take that approach with it, and we’ll go from there.”
Canales would not confirm the diagnosis of a “high-ankle sprain,” as was reported by multiple outlets. He also acknowledged that several reports stated Young would miss the team’s Week 8 contest in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte against the Super Bowl-hopeful Bills.
“If we can have Bryce out there on Sunday, I would love for that to be the case,” Canales said.
Return timetables for ankle injuries vary. High ankle sprains, specifically, take anywhere from two to four weeks to return, reports say. Tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, who sustained an ankle injury Week 3, made his return to the active game day roster this past weekend — Week 7 — against the Jets.
Bryce Young’s ankle injury
Young exited Sunday’s win over the Jets near the end of the third quarter after getting sacked on a third-and-long. On the sack, defensive lineman Jowon Briggs appeared to step on Young’s calf, causing Young’s ankle to get caught on the MetLife Stadium turf.
Young walked to the locker room with an apparent limp and did not return. He was replaced for the final play of the third quarter and the rest of the fourth by veteran backup quarterback Andy Dalton, who guided the team to its third consecutive win.
The win technically marked Young’s second road win of his career as an NFL starter. And despite it being a pretty dreary day of offense for both teams, Canales told reporters after the game Sunday that Young played “excellent.” Young’s stat-line before exiting Sunday was 15 of 25 for 138 yards and one touchdown — and, importantly, no turnovers.
If Young can’t play Sunday, it could mark just the second time in his career he’s missed a game due to injury. The first was a Week 3 game his rookie season, also due to an ankle injury.
Young’s injury undoubtedly changes the process for the week, Canales said.
“We have to evaluate, ‘How much can Bryce do?’” Canales said. “Can he get out there and function and practice? Andy’s ready to go. He’ll be ready to take on the game plan and to make sure that the whole process, the whole offense, all those things are moving forward as we have to make a decision.”
Here’s what else happened of note on Monday.
Status of offensive lineman Damien Lewis
Young isn’t the only Panther dealing with an ailment. Canales gave a hopeful update Monday on the health of offensive lineman Damien Lewis, who injured his shoulder Thursday and was day-to-day until being ruled inactive on Sunday.
“We tried to get him back on Sunday, took him all the way to game day, tested the strength,” Canales said of Lewis. “We’ll have him in there, doing some rehab, with the hopes that we’ll be able to get him in there and practice on Wednesday.”
Lewis is the team’s starting left guard and has been the line’s most available and consistent player. His absence Sunday was his first of the season.
The offensive line up until now has faced pretty notable attrition. Guard Chandler Zavala is on the injured reserve with a knee injury. So is Pro Bowl guard Robert Hunt (biceps). Center/interior OL Austin Corbett was activated from the IR on Sunday, serving that right guard spot in Lewis’ stead after spending the first few healthy games of 2025 as the starting center.
All told, the Panthers’ win over the Jets featured the team’s sixth different starting offensive line combination — in seven games.
Such a stat speaks to the versatility of this group, Canales and players said. Corbett, for instance, hadn’t played left guard since 2019 but was asked to Sunday. Corbett told The Observer on Monday that playing center recently made the transition to left guard manageable.
“Five years at right guard, you’re comfortable there,” said Corbett, whose first few years in Carolina were spent at the right guard spot. “But at center, you play both guards essentially, so to be able to do that so it wasn’t completely foreign when I got thrown in yesterday, it didn’t feel completely natural. It’s like riding a bike. Bike was a little rusty ... but we’re good to go.”
Princely Umanmielen thinks Derrick Brown is the best defensive tackle in the NFL
The Panthers’ defense has turned in several great performances as of late — none more impressive than their showing against the Jets on Sunday. Take it from rookie outside linebacker Princely Umanmielen, who in just one season has seen an NFL defense transform.
“I think after we knocked off the dust Week 1 — you know, we had a bad game defending the run — I think after that, we just emphasized it in practice,” Umanmielen told The Observer. “And we knew what kind of guys we had in our interior D-Line and even our edges. Derrick Brown, if you ask me, he’s the best defensive tackle in the NFL. So having him and A’Shawn Robinson and guys like Tershawn when he’s healthy, helping us out, you know, he’s just dominant against offensive guards. Those guys just refuse to get blocked.”
Umanmielen himself had a good day. He finished with 0.5 sacks — contributing to a defense that notched a season-high six sacks — and three pressures. He did all that in just 20 defensive snaps (33%).
His workload on defense was in part impacted by a rib/oblique issue he sustained in the first half after colliding with Derrick Brown on a pass rush. Umanmielen said after getting banged up, he was at 30-40%, but he finished out the game nonetheless.
“I think I did OK for being at 30-40%,” Umanmielen said. “Man, I was so sick because I had prepared so much for this game, and I just knew that if I was at 100% I know I would’ve walked away with at least 1.5 sacks, for sure.
“That’s one of the reasons why I decided to fight through it and keep playing because I was like, ‘Bro, I put way too much time into this preparation. I’m not going to let pain, even though it hurts really bad, to stop me from continuing to play.’”
Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard debate rings on
It has been the story of the last three weeks among Panthers fans and fantasy football owners alike: How will the Panthers use their two, feature-caliber backs?
They offered an answer Sunday.
Chuba Hubbard, returning from a calf injury after missing the past two weeks, was the starter. He finished with 14 carries for 31 yards and did so on 38 snaps, or 53.5% of the team’s offensive plays.
Rico Dowdle, who broke out with 389 rushing yards in the two games Hubbard was out (and that’s not to mention the receiving success), served as the backup, technically. The two split series. Dowdle’s final stat-line was 17 carries for 79 yards, with 33 snaps (46.5%) on offense and two snaps (8.7%) on special teams.
Here’s how Canales thought the run game worked using this carry distribution method.
“For me, it was just great to be able to call the game the way it was supposed to be called,” Canales said. “I didn’t really have to overthink any of the plays, other than a couple that we had special for Chuba, a couple that we had special for Rico, a couple for Trevor (Etienne) that didn’t end up playing itself out in the game.
“But in general, it allowed me to stay in the rhythm of my calls, just go to the next one, and not have to overthink who was out there.”
Quick hits
- Xavier Legette had arguably the best day of his NFL career Sunday against the Jets, notching career highs in receptions (9) and yards (92) and adding a touchdown in the process. With backup quarterback Andy Dalton in the game, Legette was targeted five times — so five of Dalton’s seven throws were to the 2024 first-round pick. The two have a nice connection; in five games in 2024, when Dalton served as the starter, Legette was targeted 21 times and recorded 142 yards and two scores.
- Some love for the defense: The Panthers only allowed six points against the Jets on Sunday, which is the fewest points allowed in a road game for the franchise since October 2017. Moreover, the longest single run the defense allowed was that of 8 yards by Breece Hall; it marked the third consecutive week without allowing a rush of more than 10 yards, according to a Panthers release.
- How about this pass rush? The Panthers generated season highs in total pressures (16), pressure rate (36.4%) and sacks (6) on Sunday. Those six sacks are the most since Week 1 of 2021, according to a release.
- Jaycee Horn’s two-interception day marks his first of his NFL career. Per a release, the Pro Bowl cornerback is the first Panthers player with two interceptions in a single game since James Bradberry did so at Tampa Bay in October 2019.
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 12:40 PM.
