Four takeaways from Tuesday, including Bryce Young shaking up his routine, stopping Christian Watson, and more

If some of these starters, such as Lewis, Evans, or Phillips, can’t go against the Packers, Canales explained they will have to prioritize matchups against Green Bay more than anything when it comes to who will replace them.

“We have to start to anticipate, like, all right, what is our game plan and approach going to be and who would execute that the best,” explained Canales. “And we have options in some of the different spots, so I think that kind of plays into it some. It’s not just about who might be necessarily the most logical next step in, but it’s, what does the game plan look like? Does that fit this guy or that guy better?”

Some of those options, the coach explained, could be Corey Bullock or Jake Curhan, who provided respite on the offensive line last season. Another option is Torricelli Simpkins III, but he has been nursing an ankle injury this week.

“It’s like trying to figure out the best puzzle piece for what our game plan and our run game might look like, and the pass-pro,” said Canales.

At corner, Chau Smith-Wade would shift to the outside, but there would still be a need for depth. At that point, they could look at Corey Thornton, in his second year with the club, or Marco Wilson, who arrived in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago but has been a league veteran for six years, among the possible practice squad elevations.

“There are guys that do different things and have different types of skill sets,” said Canales. “Marco Wilson’s a quicker athletic mover, and Corey Thornton is a big physical corner who’s played safety, who’s played nickel for us. So there’s some options there.”