Panthers, Jaguars Reveal Plans for Joint Practice and Preseason Game

The first week of the NFL preseason is in the books, meaning we have just two weeks left of the exhibition games before the real thing is here. For teams, they are getting a look at their roster and some possible big decisions they will have to make.  For the Carolina Panthers, they have had two preseason games already as they played in the Hall of Fame Game against Arizona. But this week is when things will ramp up. Carolina is heading down to Jacksonville for a few days as they will have a joint practice with the Jaguars on Wednesday before the two teams meet on Friday in a preseason game. This is a chance for the two teams to face off against players who aren't on their team and for some coaches, the joint practice is more valuable than the preseason.  For other teams, they use both the joint practice and the preseason game in terms of giving players equal reps.  As we get set for the week ahead, the Jaguars have revealed their plans for the preseason matchup. Head coach Liam Coen says he's trending toward having the starters play a little bit in Friday's game. "That's the goal right now, is to look at potentially playing [starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence and other front-line players] a little Friday night," Coen said. The Jaguars didn't play their starters or front line players in the first preseason game against the New Orleans Saints.  As for Carolina, Dave Canales plans on getting his starters plenty of reps in the joint practice as well as in Friday's game. "The joint practice—they're gonna get a good load," Canales replied. "We've been working with Coach [Liam] Coen, Shane Waldron—one of my friends from Seattle—we've been going back and forth, just making sure we throw a great practice and hit some different situations. "And then, the plan is to play 'em all in the game, too. And then, of course, it just depends on how we come out of today, how we come out of tomorrow, to see where guys are at." Judging by how Canales felt about his first team offense's showing against Buffalo, it sounds like a good idea to have the starters play more than envisioned.