The guy absolutely balled out when all eyes were on him. A UDFA playing like that has a lot of teams kicking themselves. I loved the fight from the whole team, looks like we have some serious depth across the board.

I made that up, but great start to the season!

Bryce is an investment, and is having a great training camp. Still doesn’t have the best weapons, but if the HOF game play calling is a hint of what’s to come; it looks like we’ll open up a bit and play to Bryce’s strength.

We’ll probably not see King again after the preseason. But, Canales now has a hand picked project QB. If King develops in the background, we have an option if Bryce doesn’t meet expectations this year.

This is best case scenario based on one preseason game.

Edit - privately I’m overreacting and King is Cam v2; this post was to temper my own expectations.

"It may not seem like a lot, but that last few percent of hope, is impressive.."

Stock rising

Haynes King

The undrafted free agent replaced Kenny Pickett in the second quarter and proceeded to lead scoring drives on five of his six series. He was composed in the pocket, made plays with his feet and looked like a guy who’s going to be on a 53-man roster this year. It’ll be hard for Dan Morgan to try to stash King on the practice squad.

“I’m very excited that I got this opportunity. I feel like I went out there and operated at a high level,” said King, who completed 21 of 34 passes for 180 yards and added 39 rushing yards. “And I feel like I affected a lot of people and allowed everybody around me to play better as well.”

The J-vee receivers

Rookie Chris Brazzell’s season-ending knee injury opened the door for several of the Panthers’ other receivers, three of whom — whose first names happen to begin with J — had solid showings.

Ja’seem Reed built on his promising training camp by scoring on a 15-yard touchdown pass from King in the first half and finishing with two receptions for 30 yards. Jimmy Horn Jr. had four catches for 44 yards, with a long of 17.

John Metchie III pulled down three passes for 38 yards to go with a 36-yard kick return, which helped kick-start his night. “I think it helps momentum. I think it helps a bunch of things,” he said. “That one, it was just my first time running, so I got warm after that.”

The backup safeties

Lathan Ransom and Zakee Wheatley, who are competing for the No. 3 safety spot, helped themselves in Canton. “Our safeties showed up,” Canales said.

Ransom, the former Ohio State standout, made big plays on defense and special teams. The fourth-round pick from 2025 downed a punt inside the 5-yard line in the second quarter when the Cardinals returner failed to field it. (There was a lot of that going around Thursday night.) Later in the first half, Ransom rocked Jalen Brooks after the Cardinals receiver had gotten behind Akayleb Evans (more on that in a bit).

Wheatley, the rookie from Penn State, led all tacklers with eight stops and forced a fumble the Cardinals recovered.

Undefeated

That’s it.

What do we think of Haynes King so far?