The guy that the Carolina Panthers paid (and paid quite handsomely) to lead their backfield isn’t really leading their backfield. The backup is.
Through six games, it’s Chuba Hubbard—not Miles Sanders—who sits atop the rushing leaderboard for Carolina. The third-year back is off to the best start of his young career, something head coach Frank Reich certainly acknowledged on Monday.
“Chuba’s looked good,” he replied when asked about the current state of the running back position. “Obviously, we love Miles. I know Miles has continued to make good progress. We’ll get into this week a little bit. It’s always gonna be a little bit by committee. That’s typically our approach. The actual mix—that could vary week to week. We’ll see how things play out this week, though.”
Last week played out well for Hubbard, who rushed for a season-high 88 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. He’s now recorded a team-leading 242 rushing yards with a rock-solid average of 4.5 yards per attempt.
Sanders, on the other hand, has been anything but rock-solid. The 26-year-old, who missed that Week 6 loss to the Miami Dolphins due to a shoulder injury, has amassed all of 190 yards on 61 carries—good enough for a paltry 3.1 yards per tote.
So, we’ll have to see how the week starts to play out for Hubbard, Sanders and Sanders’ shoulder.
