CHARLOTTE — Panthers head coach Dave Canales said they've continued to see "progress" from quarterback Bryce Young, but not enough to be supremely confident about his ability to go Sunday against the Bills.

Young was listed as doubtful on the final injury report, after not practicing for the third straight day.

"He's made progress every day, and we want to just keep our options open right now," Canales said. "Didn't want to rule him out, just wanted to say, OK, you woke up today, it was better than you did yesterday, so tomorrow we'll move around. We rested it pretty good today. We had two good days of work on that ankle, so we'll take a look at it again tomorrow, and then we'll make the best decision from there."

Young has only missed one other game in his career because of injury, in Week 3 of his rookie season at Seattle. As would be the case this week, Andy Dalton replaced him in the lineup.

Canales said they've discussed the situation with Young throughout the week and said they wanted to make the smart decision for all involved.

"I talked early in the week and said, hey, let's just push this thing every day, let's see where we're at, for my own sake, for the team's sake, all the guys are they put, they're pulling for Bryce to be out there to play with us, play with this group," Canales said. "You've got to be smart, but I think it's wise of us to just take it day by day and see if we can get back out there and continue to build and to push our football forward."

Hendon Hooker will back up Andy Dalton if Bryce Young can't go

Canales confirmed that practice squad quarterback Hendon Hooker would be Dalton's backup if Young can't go.

"Excited about Hooker, excited about him being here, being in tune with what we're doing, continuing to do a great job for us when he got his opportunities on the scout stuff," Canales said. "Really into the game plan, and this is why we brought her here, to have another developmental person in the building that has talent and that has an ability to know our words, know our system, and be able to go."

They brought Mike White in to the practice squad this week, and he mostly handled the scout team work, since he was in camp with the Bills.

"It was a good balance, to have," Canales said. "We needed to get Hendon out there playing, so he carried the load of most of the full practices, but to have Mike available for the walkthroughs, to operate to get the timing of the motion and snap points and really make it come alive, it was excellent, and it was a good opportunity for us to make it look as close as possible to what the concepts may look like in operations. He did a fantastic job."

Damien Lewis to return this week

Veteran left guard Damien Lewis will be back in the lineup, after a productive week of practice.

Veteran Austin Corbett started in his place last week when Lewis was unable to go because of a shoulder injury. Lewis had been the only player to start every game prior to Week 7.

"He had a great week," Canales said. "The group did a fantastic job in the training room, getting his strength back in the shoulder. Really, that's kind of the first thing with any injury, is making sure that we have the range of motion and the strength for the stability part of it, and he had a quick turnaround this week.

"We were able to get him out there. He practiced the whole week, and he looked great, got a great look in his eyes. He's excited to be back out there."