Chuba Hubbard deserves enormous praise for the way he's gone about his business this season. The Carolina Panthers haven't had much to celebrate, but his accomplished production and emerging leadership are traits that the organization can build around.
General manager Dan Morgan recognized this earlier in the campaign. He saw how important Hubbard was becoming to the team's long-term plans and rewarded the player accordingly. His four-year extension looks even better when one considers another unfortunate injury to second-round rookie Jonathon Brooks.
Hubbard is over 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career. The former fourth-round selection played a starring role in Carolina's overtime triumph against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16, scoring the game-winning touchdown to cap off another accomplished outing. That typifies his ability to come through in the biggest moments.
Luke Kuechly lauds Chuba Hubbard's impact on the Carolina Panthers
The Oklahoma State product's rags-to-riches journey is an inspiring one. And judging by Luke Kuechly's comments during his latest appearance on the Up and Adams Show, there is nobody happier than the former Panthers linebacker.
"I'm happy for Chuba [Hubbard] more than anything. He came in and he learned from Christian [McCaffrey], sat behind Christian. And then last year, we didn't know Chuba was our guy and we signed Miles Sanders and Chuba just keeps his head down, works extremely hard, gets paid, and then just has a career year. He's over a thousand yards. The last touchdown to win the game, there were two unblocked defenders off the edge and he ran through both of them. It's just so fitting that Chuba is the guy that goes and does that. I wish we had 53 Chubas. If we had 53 of those guys we'd be a really good football team."Luke Kuechly
This is arguably the highest praise any current Panthers player can receive. Don't you just love the way Kuechly still refers to Carolina as 'we' despite moving into an analyst's role, too?
Kuechly is on Mount Rushmore of the greatest players in franchise history. He was part of some exceptional teams and knows what it takes to build a winner. He sees Hubbard as someone who can help establish a genuine culture and get this once-proud organization on the right path once again.
It's an opinion shared by everyone across the franchise. Hubbard is a focal point on and off the field. He sets high standards for himself and expects the same from his teammates. That's taking time, but having a dependable backfield presence to produce and inspire is only going to serve the Panthers well moving forward.
Kuechly's still around the building plenty. He'll see Hubbard's work ethic and increasing influence coming to the fore. The potential first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer knows how integral this will be if the Panthers want to go from also-rans into contenders.
Hubbard is a team-first guy above all else. But when he takes stock of the campaign, he'll be one of the very few who can look back on their efforts with enormous pride.
The Panthers might not get Brooks back next season. Miles Sanders is a salary-cap cut candidate after another anonymous contribution blighted by injury. Carolina needs to reinforce the room, but Hubbard will shoulder the load.
Something he's done with aplomb this season.