Carolina Panthers must keep Chuba Hubbard involved on offense
The only shining light on offense today was the performance of rookie Chuba Hubbard.
Hubbard has slowly grown into his role as RB1 since Christian McCaffrey went down, and his production today should mean the Carolina Panthers do not rush the All-Pro back into the lineup despite him practicing last week.
The former Oklahoma State star finished the game with 24 carries for 101 yards and five receptions for 33 yards, Hubbard’s growth in his short NFL career has proven that while of course, he isn’t at the level of McCaffrey, he is an adequate replacement.
The production of Hubbard means that when McCaffrey is back starting, whether that be next week against the Minnesota Vikings or in Week 7 at the New York Giants, Joe Brady should operate the running back pair in tandem.
Much was made before his injury that McCaffrey was being overworked. He totaled more than 30 touches in both the first two weeks.
Now the former Stanford star is making big boy money, so should expect a lot of touches. However, with Hubbard proving he’s more than capable at this level this may mean moving forward we won’t see McCaffrey generating so many touches.
Panthers fans should be excited about these two working as a productive partnership moving forward.