CHARLOTTE — The Panthers know the Houston Texans are coming Wednesday for a joint practice, and that will determine whether Dave Canales intends to play his starters in Friday's preseason finale.

But it sounds like he's leaning one way in particular.

Canales said that after planning this practice with Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans, it ought to be a sufficient workload that Friday's game might not be necessary.

"Yeah, that's still up in the air," Canales said Monday, after another fully padded session. "Honestly, you know, we have a really, really intense practice planned with the Texans on Wednesday. So, depending on how we come out of that, if we get the volume that we're looking for, the odds are they won't play.

"If between DeMeco and I, if we're not able to get the work that we wanted, there may be some early play for some of the guys, but we're going to kind of make that decision after the practice."

The Panthers starters got two series in Friday night in Jacksonville, after a similar workload against the Bills. The starters did not play in the Hall of Fame Game.

That likely means a lot of Kenny Pickettand Kyle Trask at quarterback Friday night.

Canales said that undrafted rookie quarterback Haynes King who suffered a hamstring injury during his dramatic last-second touchdown run in Canton, would not play this week.

"He will not be ready for the preseason finale," Canales said. He's getting his long speed and all that stuff up, but he's not in a place where we can cut him loose to play football right now."

While that's a limited workload for the starters, they've also had an additional week of training camp as they prepared for the Hall of Fame Game, so the workloads have convinced Canales that fitness wasn't a problem.

Injury updates, and there are plenty

The Panthers had a few absences from Monday's practices, including linebacker Devin Lloyd.

Canales said Lloyd was just "really sore," coming out of the joint practice with the Jaguars, which is why he didn't play Friday night, and that lingered. Canales said he spent the weekend getting "some more intensive treatment" on his knee, and was doing well.

"We don't foresee this being something that's going to hinder him long term," Canales said. "But it was a good moment and opportunity for us to take advantage of this window, to get him all the way back."

Canales said that running back Chuba Hubbard (hamstring) remains on track to return for the regular season opener, and that the plan was for wide receiver Xavier Legette (foot) to remain in a walking boot the rest of the week, in hopes of having him ready the following week leading into the regular season.

Safety Lathan Ransom and defensive tackle Cam Jackson (concussion protocol) practiced in red no-contact jerseys Monday, while linebacker Bam Martin-Scott worked on the side with Legette and the rehab group.

Wide receiver Ja'seem Reed returned to practice on Monday after missing some time.

Nic Scourton, Chris Brazzell return to Charlotte

You could see Nic Scourton coming from 50 yards away thanks to the massive smile he was wearing. The outside linebacker rode up to the practice field on Monday with Devin Lloyd, and Scourton's joy at being back with his teammates was palpable.

He hopped off the cart with an exuberant greeting, handing out hugs and high-fives before jogging over to watch O-line versus D-line one-on-one drills, something he was very passionate about.

Simply having one of their emotional leaders back on the field boosted the Panthers.

"Oh, I loved it," smiled linebacker Claudin Cherelus. "I saw him yesterday on the off day. He came in the locker room, and it pretty much sparked a smile on everyone's face, just knowing how much he meant to us and still means to us, seeing him around in positive spirits; it was just great."

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Scourton is back in town, along with rookie receiver Chris Brazzell II, after both had successful surgery in Texas for their respective injuries (Scourton an ACL tear, and Brazzell a torn lateral collateral ligament). Scourton had his surgery "about two weeks ago," according to Canales, and Brazzell's was a few days later.

The duo got to watch the Panthers versus Bills preseason game together while recovering, and Canales FaceTimed the two after the game to check in on their progress.

It also meant they got to offer their input on the game.

"So good to have the guys back around their teammates and showing a lot of love through the building," shared Canales."I was able to FaceTime them in their recovery. They had all their ideas and thoughts about what went on. And so it was good to kind of hear that and see that they're following along with us."

Waller gets into uniform, plan still unfolding

Coaches got their first look at Darren Waller in a Panthers jersey on Monday, when he took to the field for practice. The veteran tight end participated in individual drills and was "sprinkled" into some team drills by Canales' count. But when he was on the field, they got to see the 6-6 frame in action.

"He looked really good in RVAs (routes versus air)," shared Canales. "We weren't able to get him a target in the course of the team periods, but he looked good running. He's in great shape. And I think it's just a matter of time for him to just hear the words, get where he fits into the concepts for us to be able to continue to evaluate that."

Waller only took part with the return-to-play group last week, his first with the team. He was with the group in Jacksonville for both practice and the game Friday night.

Monday was the next step in getting him involved. That same workload will be the blueprint for his involvement this coming Wednesday in the joint practice against the Texans. The plan is to have him get enough work against Houston that he won't have to play in the final preseason game Friday night.

"He probably won't play Friday," confirmed Canales. "If we get enough work on Wednesday, I wouldn't want to put him out in a game-type setting, having only practiced for a week."

With so little time to see Waller in the Panthers' scheme ahead of Week 1, Canales and crew are relying a lot on what he's done over his decade in the league — particularly last season in nine games with the Dolphins — to evaluate how he can be implemented into this offense.

"We have to lean on his recent history, playing last year, for example, just watching the cut-ups. And that's the reason why we brought him in, leaning on that part," explained Canales.

"We spent the first part of last week just running him and pushing him and making sure he was practice ready. We didn't want to rush that part. And then this week the plan was rolled out today, got him out there, got him some exposure, and he'll get some great reps on Wednesday as well to evaluate it.

"But again, it's a good room. We love those guys and trust them, and so he comes into a room to see if he can help us in some way, but the guys are doing a great job of showing what they can do as well."

Decision time is looming

The Panthers are a week away from roster cuts, as they have to reduce from 91 to 53 on Sunday. After that point, they can add back 16 to the practice squad (or 17 if one of them is an international player like linebacker Mapalo Mwansa).

So there are plenty of decisions to be made in the coming days, making Friday's game meaningful for a lot of guys, which Canales and general manager Dan Morgan have been discussing.

"We have a really competitive team, really competitive roster," Canales said. "We got some tough decisions to make, Dan and I. We've been previewing some of those, but we've got another great opportunity, and we have a practice on Wednesday, and we have a game on Friday, to be able to look at the whole group  to give them one more shot to compete and to show us what they can do."