The Carolina Panthers will be going with Kenny Pickett as their starter under center when they take on the Arizona Cardinals in Thursday’s preseason Hall of Fame Game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales announced the decision on Monday.
Bryce Young remains the Panthers’ QB1, but he’s unlikely to see action in the exhibition matchup, so it will be the former Pittsburgh Panthers star quarterback Pickett and undrafted free agent rookie Haynes King, who are expected to share the quarterbacking chores against the Cardinals.
“We have a good number of guys that will be helping out early on in the game, just because we don’t want to overload any one particular group on our team,” Canales said, via Darin Gantt & Kassidy Hill of the Panthers’ official website. “We do have practices leading into the game, and we have practices coming out of it, so I felt that with a number of guys being out there, being able to take a couple of series will really help the whole group, and we just need the football.
“So I’m excited about it, and Kenny is excited as well as the rest of the group, and they’ve been talking a lot about it.”
A first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022, Pickett is coming off a stint in 2025 with the Las Vegas Raiders, with whom he appeared in six games, including two starts. He passed for 188 yards and a touchdown with 2 interceptions on a 62.2% completion rate with the Raiders.
He had plenty of experience as a starter during his first two seasons in the league with Pittsburgh. From 2022 to 2023, he appeared in 25 games (24 starts) and went 14-10, while throwing for 4,474 passing yards and 13 touchdowns against 13 interceptions on a 62.6% completion rate.
It is also worth noting that Pickett won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025.
