The Carolina Panthers may be in line to face a backup quarterback for the second consecutive week.
After a 25-14 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6, next up for the reigning NFC South champions are their division rivals—the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And like the Eagles, who were forced to start Tanner McKee in place of Jalen Hurts on Sunday, the Bucs might have to run out rookie Jalon Daniels with starter Baker Mayfield recovering from a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand.
Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles offered up a bit of insight into the team's Week 7 plans on Monday . . .
Coach Todd Bowles said Baker Mayfield is supposed to practice Wednesday and they’ll “take a good look at him there.” They’ll evaluate him during the week to see how
he does. But…he said he believes they need to game plan as if Jalon Daniels is playing. Both players will be in… pic.twitter.com/pX9IjL1ws0
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) October 19, 2026
Panthers head coach Dave Canales, who spent the 2023 campaign as Mayfield's offensive coordinator in Tampa, also touched on the subject this afternoon.
"Knowing Baker—if he's got a chance to play, he's gonna play," Canales told reporters. "He is as tough as they come. Played through a bunch of stuff in my year that I was with him, was able to function well with all those things.
"So I'm expecting it to be Baker. We also have to prepare if it's Jalon. We know that. A little different than last week. Hopefully, it's not like a mid-week type of thing. We'll know it's either one or the other. So we have to be ready for what their offense looks like when Baker's out there, we have to be ready for what they've been doing the last couple of weeks."
Daniels has started the last three games for the Bucs, completing 63.2 percent of his passes for 501 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. Tampa went 1-2 in those games.
Follow @ThePanthersWire on Twitter/X for more Panthers content.
This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Buccaneers offer outlook on which QB will start vs. Panthers in Week 7
