Bryce Young returns to Panthers practice amid ankle injury

Bryce Young will practice Wednesday, with Panthers coach Frank Reich saying his rookie quarterback is feeling well enough to see some action.

However, Reich didn’t reveal how much Young can do in this afternoon’s workout. He said Young tested the ankle, Tuesday. That led to the Panthers clearing him for more practice time.

After starting the first two games, Young sprained his ankle towards the end of the contest with the Saints. He then missed all of last week’s workouts. He then didn’t play in the Panthers 37-27 loss to the Seahawks. Veteran Andy Dalton filled in for Young, the former Alabama star who was the top pick of this year’s NFL Draft. Young accompanied the team to Seattle and wore an earpiece to hear the play call discussions,

Joe Person with The Athletic shared some video of Young walking back onto the practice fields. There was no sign of a limp.

Bryce Young is here. pic.twitter.com/CBrOR8X121

— Joe Person (@josephperson) September 27, 2023

Reading the tea leaves, the Panthers must feel reasonably sure that Bryce Young is healthy enough to start their home game, Sunday, against the Vikings. Both teams are 0-3. They lost practice squad quarterback Jake Luton, Tuesday, when he signed with the Saints. Luton had moved up to QB2 with Young sidelined last week. But rather than signing another quarterback to replace Luton, the Panthers added receiver Matt Landers to the practice squad.

In an interesting twist, Dalton set career highs when he filled in for Young. Plus, Reich had him throw more deep passes.

“I probably called a few more,” Reich said. “And there were one or two things that Andy specifically asked for, which I don’t wanna go into detail on. But there were a couple things that he specifically asked for.”

Dalton completed 34 of a career-high 58 passes for 361 yards. He threw two touchdown passes with no interceptions.