Let’s give Chuba Hubbard as massive amount of credit. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft and for the most part, the Carolina Panthers have been a dumpster fire. They were 5-12 his rookie season, 7-10 in 2022, 2-15 last season and so far in 2024, they’re 2-7.
Including interim head coaches, Hubbard has played for Matt Rhule, Steve Wilks, Frank Reich, Chris Tabor and now, Dave Canales. He’s been one of the lone bright spots for the Panthers since being drafted. The other, wideout D.J. Moore, they traded away for the No. 1 overall pick in 2023, which became Bryce Young, who looks to be a failure of a pick.
So no, Hubbard hasn’t been in the best of situations, but credit to him, because he got paid on Thursday. The Panthers gave him a four-year contract extension worth $37.2 million with $15 million in guaranteed money.
For Hubbard, it wasn’t just a personal goal reached, but he believes he and the Panthers can have a brighter future ahead.
“Definitely lifts a burden off me a little bit,” Hubbard said of the extension, according to ESPN. ”I’ve always wanted to take care of my family for life. At the end of the day, I want to be great. I want to be a Panther for life.”
Getting the Panthers back on track starts with finishing the 2024 season strong. The Panthers are 2-7 but they are coming off a win over the New Orleans Saints. Hubbard rushed for 72 yards and two touchdowns in a game that got Saints head coach Dennis Allen fired.
Are the Panthers now a bold, trendy pick to start winning? Let’s start with these three predictions.
Chuba Hubbard will be the Panthers’ 1A option on offense
It’s not as if the Panthers have many more great options to give the football to on offense. For all intents and purposes, Young is a failure.
Sure, the Panthers may ask him to air it out for the rest of 2024 just to see if there’s anything they can get out of him, even as trade bait in the offseason, but he’s clearly not the long-term answer for Carolina. That will hamper anything the Panthers want to do through the air, which means the running game will lead the way for the rest of 2024.
Speaking of, second-round pick Jonathan Brooks was just activated to the Panthers’ 53-man roster, but he’s not expected to steal many of Hubbard’s snaps. If anything, he’ll provide Hubbard a much-needed respite from time-to-time, which will keep him fresh. Speaking specifically of calling up Brooks, Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik took the time to praise Hubbard.
“[He] embodies a lot of what we want to do here, culturally and on the offensive side.”
He also made it clear that Hubbard is their guy moving forward.
“We just see another good back that we can add to the fold and Chuba is going to do a great job of leading the charge,” Idzik said.
Hubbard will finally rush for over 1,000 yards
Hubbard has done a ton of things in the NFL since being drafted out of Oklahoma State, but the one thing he hasn’t done yet is rush for over 1,000 yards. The closest he got was in 2023, when he rushed 238 times for 902 yards and five touchdowns. He’s already rushed 133 times for 665 yards and five touchdowns, which means he’s on pace to blow out his numbers from 2023, which were already pretty impressive.
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He’s played in all nine of the Panthers’ games and with eight remaining, it’s not unrealistic at all that he’ll keep up his pace of of 73.8 yards per game. At 73.8 yards times eight games, that would net him an additional 591. Add that to his 665 current yards and that will get him to 1,256. Throw a few more touchdowns onto the pile and that’s one heck of a season.
Hubbard will be a Panther for life
Hubbard says he wants to be a Panther for life and now that he has his extension, he will be. Of course, he’ll have to fight against the issues that most running backs deal with, which is age and getting banged up, but he’s in his year 25 season right now and when his new contract runs out, he won’t even be 30.
As long as he stays healthy and keeps running hard, there’s a great possibility the Panthers will give him one more contract as one of the cornerstones of the franchise, especially if they can turn it around.
“We are excited to sign Chuba to an extension and keep him in Carolina. He exemplifies everything we want on and off the field,” General Manager Dan Morgan said in a statement. “Chuba is passionate about football, is productive and is committed to his teammates and winning.”
That’s the type of player you keep around when you’re trying to climb out of the basement. Hubbard will be a Panther for life.