Canales Expects Hubbard Back For Panthers' Season Opener
Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales said Monday that running back Chuba Hubbard is expected to be ready for Week 1, according to the Associated Press. Hubbard has not appeared in a preseason game after straining his hamstring during training camp.
Hubbard is projected to open the season as Carolina's starting running back, with Jonathon Brooks as the primary backup. Because Hubbard has yet to resume cutting drills - a precaution the team has taken, per Canales - the Panthers plan to use a committee approach to open the year, according to The Athletic. racing post greyhound bet app
Hubbard's 2025 season was disrupted by a calf injury that cost him his starting job to Rico Dowdle. He played in 15 games but started only the first six, and his production dropped sharply over his final nine appearances, falling from an average of 13.2 carries and 47 yards per game to 6.1 carries and 25.4 yards per game. Dowdle has since signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency, clearing the way for Hubbard and Brooks to take over the backfield. In his last fully healthy season, 2024, Hubbard started all 15 games he played and rushed for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns on 250 carries. A fourth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, he has spent his entire career with the Panthers.
Brooks, a second-round pick in 2024, has battled his own health setbacks, appearing in just three games as a rookie before a second torn ACL ended his season and kept him out for all of 2025 during recovery. Now healthy, he sits second on Carolina's depth chart ahead of Trevor Etienne, AJ Dillon and Anthony Tyrus III, though he has carried the ball only eight times this preseason. How the Panthers divide workload between Hubbard and Brooks to begin the season will be a key storyline as Carolina's backfield takes shape for 2026.
