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The NFL returned on Thursday night, and it didn't hold back. For the traditional Hall of Fame Game that opens the preseason every year in Canton, Ohio, the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals delivered a spectacle that the 33-30 scoreboard doesn't fully capture.
Without starters, as is customary for this opening game, both teams showcased their young prospects. And one of them stole the show. Haynes King, an undrafted quarterback out of Georgia Tech, scored the game-winning touchdown by diving into the end zone with five seconds left. A five-yard scramble finished on pure adrenaline, body horizontal over the line, in front of a Tom Benson Stadium crowd won over to his cause.
Without starters, as is customary for this opening game, both teams showcased their young prospects.
The Longview, Texas native had watched all 32 franchises pass him over during the seven rounds of April's draft. Arriving in Carolina as a free agent with just a training camp invitation, King knew he'd only have a handful of preseason snaps to make his mark. On Thursday night, he turned them all into gold. It's a story the NFL loves, and a reminder that talent isn't always measured by draft rounds.
Beck shines, King steals everything
Before the heroics of Carolina's third-string quarterback, it was another rookie who made noise. Carson Beck, picked by Arizona in the third round of the draft, showed on his two drives why the Cardinals invested in him. Clean reads, calm movement in the pocket, and two well-constructed touchdown passes. The Georgia product left the field with his stock soaring. His first drive, an eleven-play series capped by a 22-yard laser to the tight end, set the tone for a night where offense dominated defense for long stretches.
But football is ruthless in that it often only remembers the last image. That of King slicing through the Cardinals' defense in full extension, and that of Dave Canales, Carolina's coach, praising his team's "finish" to the press.
A game of two halves
The first half produced a choppy feeling-out round marred by penalties and communication errors, expected for an August without rhythm. The two teams traded turnovers like a warm-up pass: three interceptions and two lost fumbles in thirty minutes of play. Then the machine revved up after the break. Kedon Slovis, another Cardinals quarterback, even thought he'd handed his team the win with a one-yard pass to Bryson Green with under two minutes left. An optical illusion: King had saved the best for last.
Canton, a launching pad
The Hall of Fame Game remains a preseason contest. No one will draw definitive conclusions from a duel between third-stringers. But for an undrafted rookie like Haynes King, a night like this changes everything. It gives him a media window and a few extra weeks of credit in a league where spots are earned on merit, drive after drive. Before Thursday, no one outside Georgia Tech knew his name. Today, the NFL's social media channels are all about his dive.
After Canton, the preseason stretches to September 7, the official kickoff of the 2026 season. Between now and then, Carolina will need to sort out the quarterback hierarchy, where no one has yet locked down the keys to the truck. King just submitted a résumé the Panthers will have a hard time ignoring.