Miles Sanders to potentially miss Panthers preseason opener versus Jets

The Carolina Panthers may be facing the New York Jets in the first preseason game this Saturday without running back Miles Sanders, head coach Frank Reich revealed on Thursday. The former Eagles ball carrier suffered “a little bit of a tweak in his groin,” according to Reich, so his status is up in the air.

Last season for the Eagles, Sanders posted 1,269 rushing yards with an additional 148 yards on the way to a Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs. The former second-rounder out of Penn State has 739 career regular-season carries in four years in the league.

After the league’s new year, Sanders did not wait around like other running backs to sign a deal when free agency hit this offseason. Promptly on March 15, Sanders signed a four-year deal with the Carolina Panthers for $25.4 million.

Meanwhile, Carolina is debuting first-round quarterback Bryce Young as the starter versus the Jets. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft has assumed QB1 duties for the last two weeks.

Panthers to start Bryce Young versus Jets

Head coach Frank Reich announced plans to start Young versus the New York Jets at practice on Sunday. He did not reveal, however, how many snaps or series he’ll play during his NFL debut.

“I do have an idea,” Reich said, via ESPN. “There is flexibility in the plan. There has to be. That’s just being smart about it. We have a general idea how many plays we want to get through the whole preseason, but that can be adjusted by 10 or 20 percent depending on how things go.”

Reich said Young is handling all that pressure on his shoulders in a professional manner, which is what they expected of him.

“The way he should, right?” Reich said on NFL Network earlier this week. “That’s all of our expectations. When you’re the No. 1 pick of the draft, which, of course, you would expect him to handle it like a pro. This isn’t his first rodeo. He’s been under pressure his whole life, had those high expectations on him his whole life. He knows and we know that we do want to win big but we also know we have to prove that day-by-day.”

The Panthers selected Young with the No. 1 overall pick after he threw for 8,200 yards and 79 touchdowns in 27 games for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this report.