4 Carolina Panthers on the hot seat entering Week 3 at the Seahawks
By Dean Jones
Miles Sanders - Carolina Panthers RB
When the Carolina Panthers traded away Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers, the tandem of D'Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard provided some short-term stability behind Steve Wilks and Ben McAdoo's power-running attack in 2022. However, his departure is being sorely felt with a new regime.
McCaffrey is tearing it up in the California sunshine, which is bittersweet. The Panthers invested a lot in Miles Sanders during the offseason, but this spring's marque free-agent arrival just hasn't come through with the goods just yet.
One could place a lot of blame on Carolina's lack of prowess when it comes to run blocking. But the vision and explosiveness seem to have deserted Sanders this season, especially compared to his production last time around during a Pro Bowl campaign with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Not having a consistent passing attack is something else putting additional pressure on Sanders. One could make a strong argument that Hubbard is out-performing him to date with far fewer touches, so a big performance is needed from the former second-round out of Penn State in Week 3 to alleviate concerns.
Anything less would see calls to implement Hubbard, Raheem Blackshear, and perhaps even Tarik Cohen into the lineup more frequently. Not exactly what the player or the Panthers had in mind given all their big talk before competitive action began.