3 Carolina Panthers players that must be benched immediatley after Week 5 loss

Miles Sanders - Carolina Panthers RB

Fans are getting pretty tired of the Miles Sanders experience through five contests. That's not what the Carolina Panthers envisaged when they spent pretty decent money on another running back so soon after trading Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers, with his lack of production once again coming in for severe criticism at the Detroit Lions.

There was one nice run in the first half. But when the Panthers were finally generating some semblance of momentum, Sanders coughed up a fumble that the Lions took full advantage of to extend their lead.

The former second-round pick out of Penn State got a few touches after that. But we began to see more of Chuba Hubbard and Laviska Shenault Jr., who had more success generating yards out of the backfield and looked ar more explosive.

If the Panthers had any sense, they would bench Sanders and move forward with the aforementioned duo. Just how much the running game will feature at the Miami Dolphins if Carolina gets in a hole early remains to be seen, but there are clear confidence issues with their marquee free-agent signing that must be addressed before he returns to being the focal point.

Sanders has a yards-per-carry average of 3.1 through Week 5, so anything less than a complete rethink in strategy would be coaching malpractice. If that means the veteran's role becomes reduced, so be it.