Carolina Panthers make a move at quarterback with Bryce Young injured

On Monday Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales told reporters that the team would explore adding another quarterback as Bryce Young deals with an ankle injury, reported as a high ankle sprain.

It didn't take too long for the Panthers to make their move. According to a report by Tom Pelissero at NFL Network the team is signing veteran QB Mike White to their practice squad.

Panthers signing Mike White

Veteran QB Mike White is signing with the #Panthers practice squad, per sources.

With Andy Dalton expected to start Sunday against the Bills in place of an injured Bryce Young, White — who spent last season in Buffalo — now heads to Carolina. pic.twitter.com/sMX1WoiAcB
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 20, 2025

White - not to be confused with Michael "White Mike" McArdle from East Baltimore - played his college ball at South Florida and Western Kentucky, then was taken by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL draft.

White wound up never playing a game for the Cowboys, though. Eventually he landed with the New York Jets, going on and off their practice squad for a couple years. White also put in time with the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, and most recently the Cincinnati Bengals.

All together, White has appeared in 15 games and has gone 2-5 in seven career starts. He's completed 61.4% of his pass attempts and thrown nine touchdowns to go with 13 interceptions.

Most likely White projects as the team's No. 4 quarterback and will stay on their practice squad unless another one gets injured. At the moment Carolina's QB depth chart looks something like this:

Panthers QB depth chart

- ̶B̶r̶y̶c̶e̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶n̶g̶

- Andy Dalton

- Hendon Hooker

- Mike White

Our best guess is that the Panthers will go into this week's game against Buffalo with Dalton starting and Hooker getting elevated from the practice squad as his backup.

Dalton is far past his prime but he still has his moments. Late in the 2023 season he beat the Seattle Seahawks while Young was dealing with another ankle injury. He also smoked the Las Vegas Raiders in his first start in 2024 when Young got benched.

However, overall Dalton is pretty limited at this point in his career. He wound up going 1-4 in five starts last season with a 7/6 touchdown/INT ratio and an 82.0 passer rating. Nevertheless, Dalton is by far their most qualified healthy quarterback. The only way he's coming off the field in favor of Hooker or White is if he also gets injured.

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