All the attention on the Carolina Panthers' backfield is focused on Jonathon Brooks' long-awaited return and Chuba Hubbard's bounce-back potential. As such, Trevor Etienne has quietly slipped off the radar heading into Year 2 of his professional career.
The second year running back barely saw the field as a rookie, making him easy to overlook. However, Carolina's training camp battle for the No. 3 running back job could end up being one of the team's most important competitions, and Etienne appears to have the inside track.
Carolina's rushing attack was the engine of the offense in 2025, ranking 19th in the league, while its passing attack ranked seventh-worst.Â
Rico Dowdle carried the Panthers on his back for three of their eight wins, twice breaking 200 scrimmage yards. He's gone now, off to the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency, and the team didn't replace him with anyone close to that level of production.
What they have is Brooks and Hubbard, both of whom come with real question marks.
Brooks has played in three total NFL games. Two ACL tears in 13 months on the same knee. He's cleared by his surgeon and looked sharp at OTAs, but there is no track record to point to.Â
Hubbard has missed four games across the last two seasons and has been inconsistent throughout his career. The Panthers are banking on a backfield led by two guys who have each spent significant time on the injury report.
That's where Etienne enters.Â
Yes, the rookie year was rough. Just 23 touches on offense for 107 yards with two muffed punts, so the criticism was fair. But a fourth-round pick tasked with punt return duties despite having just two college attempts at the position was going to have growing pains, and he did.
Now heading into his second training camp in Carolina, Etienne isn't competing for the starting job. He's competing for the RB3 role against A.J. Dillon, Anthony Tyus, and rookie Miles Davis.
He's the clear favorite to win that competition, and Canales has said as much in everything but name, calling Etienne's growth in the return game encouraging and adding, "I'm excited to see him touch the ball when we get to the preseason."
The real question is whether he can step in if Brooks goes down again or Hubbard misses time. If Brooks has another setback, Etienne becomes the primary backup and a much more important piece of the puzzle.
His mindset heading into Year 2: "Leave my mark. Show people what I can do."
Panthers fans should start paying attention before he does exactly that.
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