Chuba Hubbard: Lands on IR

Hubbard teamed with D’Onta Foreman to handle the rushing attack for the Panthers after Christian McCaffrey was traded last year. Following a midseason ankle injury, Hubbard totaled 490 yards in the last six games and averaged 5.0 yards per rush. Foreman is gone, but the signing of Miles Sanders to a four-year, $25.4 million contract makes certain that Hubbard won’t be Carolina’s starting running back in his third NFL season. However, the 2021 fourth-round pick might have an advantage over Sanders when it comes to pass catching — a task Sanders struggled with in Philadelphia after his 2019 rookie season. Neither player is as good a receiver as likely RB3 Raheem Blackshear, but Hubbard at least improved last year, generating 1.66 yards per route run (89th percentile).

A 2021 fourth-round pick, Hubbard ran for 3,459 yards and 33 touchdowns in three seasons at Oklahoma State — including a 2,000-yard rushing season as a sophomore — but there were questions about whether he was powerful or elusive enough to put his above-average speed (4.48) to good use in the pros. For the most part, those concerns seem to have been warranted. Another injury-plagued season for Christian McCaffrey gave Hubbard plenty of opportunities to prove himself, but aside from a 101-yard performance against the Eagles in Week 5, he mostly failed to do so. His 3.6 yards per carry can at least partially be blamed on a poor offensive line, as his 1.7 yards before contact per carry was among the worst marks in the league, but he also broke only nine tackles in 172 carries, a rate better than only five other backs with at least 150 carries. On top of that, Hubbard averaged a meager 4.7 yards per target, in large part because he dropped seven of the 37 passes he saw. The Panthers brought in D’Onta Foreman this offseason to compete for the No. 2 role behind McCaffrey, so even if their star RB breaks down again, Hubbard may not be the one to benefit.

Hubbard’s huge sophomore year in 2019 put him on a lot of dynasty radars, but his inability to repeat the performance in his final year of college cost him, and he fell to the Panthers in the fourth round. The Oklahoma State product does offer some traits that could make him very productive in a lead role, as his vision, elusiveness and balance through traffic should allow him to get through holes and to the second level of the defense on a fairly consistent basis in the NFL. Hubbard may not have the power or burst to rack up significant yards after contact, and a 4.50 40 at his pro day wasn’t great for a guy who is on the thin side (6-0, 210) for his position. Filling the No. 2 spot on the depth chart behind a player like Christian McCaffrey creates a lot of clarity for Hubbard’s role and touch volume. When McCaffrey is healthy, the rookie will barely touch the ball. But if CMac battles injuries as he did in 2020, the rookie could take on Mike Davis’ role from last year.