Is Bryce Young Playing Tonight? (Betting Impact for Panthers vs. Cardinals in NFL Hall of Fame Game)

Football is officially back, as the NFL preseason kicks off on Thursday night with the Arizona Cardinals taking on the Carolina Panthers in the NFL Hall of Fame Game.

This preseason opener comes a week before the rest of the league begins its preseason schedule, and the Panthers have made the decision to hold starting quarterback Bryce Young out of the action. In fact, Panthers head coach Dave Canales revealed that no "clear-cut starters" will play in the matchup.

Dave Canales: Kenny Pickett will start at QB vs Cardinals.

No clear-cut starters will play, including Monroe Freeling.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) August 3, 2026

Even with Young's absence, the Panthers are favored by 1.5-points as the "road team" in this matchup. This matchup is technically played a neutral site in Canton, Ohio.

DraftKings Sportsbook has Carolina at -118 to win this game with the total all the way down at 35.5 points. Arizona is expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season, so it makes sense that the Panthers are favored with both teams likely relying heavily on backups in this contest.

At quarterback, the Panthers will start former first-round pick Kenny Pickett, and they'll also likely play rookie Haynes King, who had a strong 2025 season at Georgia Tech. King is a dual-threat quarterback that could add some juice with his legs in this matchup.

But, the fact that Pickett is starting is a pretty big reason why the Panthers are favored. While it's unclear how long the former first-round pick will play, Pickett has plenty of NFL snaps under his belt and should outplay Cardinals rookie Carson Beck, who will get the start on Thursday.

Beck was the third quarterback selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, but he didn't come off the board until the third round. The Cardinals are expected to play veteran Jacoby Brissett at quarterback to at least start the season, and Brissett has shown plenty of competency as a NFL starter.

With Young set to watch from the sidelines, SI Betting's Iain MacMillan believes the Cardinals could pull off the upset on Thursday, a pick he shared in our betting preview this week:

One of the most important things to consider when betting on the NFL Preseason is how each coach has historically done in exhibition games. Some coaches use these games simply as an evaluation tool, while others try their best to win.

Dave Canales falls under the former of the two categories. The Panthers are just 1-5 straight up and 0-6 against the spread in preseason games since he has taken over as head coach. For the Cardinals, this will be Mike LaFleur's head coaching debut, so we have no history to lean on.

Underdogs have also had a history of coming through for bettors in recent iterations of this game, going 8-2-1 against the spread dating back to 2013.

Canales's preseason record and the recent underdog trend are enough for me to bet the Cardinals to pull off the slight upset.

Carolina's next preseason game will come on Saturday, Aug. 15 against the Buffalo Bills. It's possible that Young will make an appearance in that game, though Carolina has four total preseason games in 2026 to allow the former top pick to get himself ready for the regular season.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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