The Panthers’ running back room is full of questions entering the 2026 season, but one of those has seemingly been answered. Coach Dave Canales said on Monday that the expectation is that injured back Chuba Hubbard will be ready for Week 1, per the Associated Press.
Hubbard is expected to be the starting running back with Jonathon Brooks the second option, but a strained hamstring suffered during training camp has kept Hubbard from appearing in a single preseason game to this point. Due to that – and Hubbard not yet focusing on cutting due to the Panthers’ caution, per Canales’ own admission – the duo will work in a running back by committee approach to begin the year, per The Athletic.
A calf injury limited Hubbard in 2025, which cost him starts in favor of Rico Dowdle: Hubbard appeared in 15 games but started just the first six, and went from averaging 13.2 attempts and 47 yards per game to 6.1 rushes and 25.4 yards per over his last nine appearances.
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Dowdle, though, signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers this offseason, opening space back up for Hubbard, as well as the returning Brooks. A second-round pick in 2024, Brooks appeared in just three games as a rookie before the 21-year-old suffered a second torn ACL and missed the rest of that season and the subsequent one recovering. Now healthy, he is listed as the second back on the Panthers’ depth chart, ahead of Trevor Etienne, AJ Dillon and Anthony Tyrus III, though, Brooks has just eight carries so far this preseason.
In 2024, his last healthy season, Hubbard had 250 rushing attempts for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns in 15 games, all starts. A fourth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, he has spent his entire career with the Panthers,
