CHARLOTTE — Mike White would like to pose a question: Should Freddie Freeman go into the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Atlanta Braves or the Los Angeles Dodgers?

"Because if he wins World Series MVP again with the Dodgers, he'd have to go in as that, right?" White offered.

It's a valid question, and one that spurned a lively debate in the Carolina Panthers locker room on Thursday. But then there arises another question. Why was this a topic of discussion in the Panthers' locker room on a Thursday?

There's the obvious reason; the World Series is currently going on, with Freeman and the Dodgers down 3-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays. It is the only programming White has allowed himself to watch over the last week away from work, as he's dived headfirst into the Panthers' playbook.

The journeyman quarterback arrived in Charlotte early last week after it was determined Bryce Young had suffered a significant enough ankle injury against the Jets in Week 7 that he might not be able to play against the Bills in Week 8. The former Jets and Bills quarterback (perhaps not coincidentally) stuck around in Charlotte this week after Andy Dalton injured his thumb early in Sunday’s game against the Bills.

On Tuesday, Carolina elevated White to the 53-man roster. With Young practicing but still technically recovering from the ankle injury, and now Dalton having trouble gripping the football, White's eight years of experience provide some stability to the backup position.

And while he would like to say the elevation doesn't change anything, he's also human. And it's changed everything.

"Realistically, you'd like to say no because you want to have that same process," White began. "But I mean the reality of it as a year eight veteran, yeah, it changes. There is now an actual possibility you can go in the game, whereas P-squad obviously you can't, so it adds that layer of it. But I mean, I've tried to stay consistent to my process that I've kind of learned throughout my journey in this league."

That process always includes throwing himself into the offense as much as possible. It clearly worked, with the Panthers' feeling comfortable elevating White despite only 10 days in the building, because he seemingly has learned the playbook well enough to run it if need be. Granted, this time around has been a little easier, White admits. With Dalton limited in practice on Thursday, White took all the second-team reps, behind Young.

"It's way better to be able to go out on the field and run a play rather than trying to learn it off of an iPad screen," laughed White. "You can draw things up a certain way on an iPad, but anyone who's played in an actual game knows that it's never exactly how it looks on a playbook.

"So that that stuff was nice to be able to get in and just be able, honestly, just to say the play in the huddle and just spit it out and work on that and just the mechanics at the line and silent count, all that good stuff that you don't really get if you're not the one or two."

The other reason it's been easier? The long-time quarterback has had literally nothing else to do since arriving in Charlotte. A self-appointed "big coffee shop guy," he's taken his walks outside the hotel to try different local spots. But for the most part, he studies.

"My wife and kids are at home, so that's basically it right there," laughed White. "I got nothing to do. My golf clubs are at home too. That's really what it is. I removed all possible distractions and just feels like I'm in college again, just come to the facility here, get done with the day, go back to the (hotel), and just basically study; I study and order some food."

And he watches the World Series while doing so.

It's a love he just can't quit.

"I still feel like I'm a baseball player facading as a football player," he joked. "It's what I grew up loving, like that was my dream was to play in the MLB. Granted, I love the NFL. I'm really glad I picked it, but there's still that little kid inside me that just wants to go shag fly balls."

Maybe for his next career?

"My wife would kill me."

Once committed to Stanford to play baseball for the iconic program, White entered his senior year of high school and began crunching numbers. Baseball scholarships don't offer full rides. Football scholarships do. Not wanting to cost his parents even more money than what they'd already poured into his sports, he switched sports, playing his first football game as a senior in high school. And even when scouts called him in the 14th round of the MLB draft that year, he stuck with his new sport.

The skills were transferable—"At least I tell my parents that. They spent so much time and money on baseball for a sport that I didn't end up playing."—and he feels comfortable throwing off platform when the game dictates.

"Every arm angle you use throwing a baseball, I think, has helped me in football," White explained. "And we see how those pockets look on Sunday. Very rarely do you get to just take a drop, step, and throw without someone in your face. So I like to think that helped me."

The Panthers are hoping so, too. While Young was able to practice as a full participant on Wednesday and Thursday this week, he and his ankle are still technically being watched closely. And with Dalton limited with the thumb, there is always a chance White is called upon Sunday.

He'll be ready, knowing the possibility will be higher this week than it has been all season. He has nothing to do but get ready…and sneak in Friday night's Game 6 of the World Series, leading to the next debate Mike White would like to have.

"It's hard, right, because you want to root for America, but it's the Dodgers, it's the evil empire," he scoffed. "So I think I lean Blue Jays."