The Carolina Panthers are poised to turn their backfield over to Jonathon Brooks in 2026. With the third-year veteran set to take over the RB1 gig that Rico Dowdle vacated this spring, incumbent backup Chuba Hubbard could be rendered expendable. <\/p>\n
Hubbard may not be the top RB in Carolina any longer, but he has shown he can produce in a feature role. He tallied 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns on 250 carries and added 171 yards and a TD on 43 catches in 2024. He’s also been effective as a backup and rotational option, the likely gig he would take on for most teams that would have trade interest in the 27-year-old.<\/p>\n
While Carolina may want to hold off on trading Hubbard due to Brooks’ concerning injury history\u2014which includes a pair of right knee ACL tears in consecutive years\u2014the front office may not be able to refuse the allure of cap relief (the team would take on just $1.5 million in dead money versus nearly $6 million in savings) and draft capital it could get for the back. <\/p>\n
The Panthers would also retain some intriguing talent on the bench behind Brooks, including 2025 fourth-rounder Trevor Etienne and 2020 second-rounder A.J. Dillon.<\/p>\n
The Green Bay Packers are a strong landing spot for Hubbard, with the team needing a capable backup\u2014and potential replacement\u2014for Josh Jacobs in 2026. <\/p>\n
Although Jacobs is an effective three\u2011down back at his best, Green Bay’s RB1 could miss time after an off\u2011field incident earlier this year that led to his arrest and booking on recommended domestic\u2011abuse counts. He was subsequently released from custody with no criminal charges filed at this time, as Brown County prosecutors<\/a> said they are not yet prepared to make a formal charging decision and have requested further investigation. The NFL has said it is aware of the situation and in contact with the Packers under its personal conduct policy, leaving Jacobs’ availability for 2026 potentially subject to league discipline. <\/p>\n Even if Jacobs is active and available to start the year, the seven-year veteran has missed multiple games in two of the last three seasons. Wear and tear remains a concern in 2026 given he’s logged a hefty 607 touches since joining the Packers two years ago.<\/p>\n Hubbard would immediately slot in as Green Bay’s No. 2 RB, edging out the likes of Chris Brooks (a sparsely utilized backup during his first three NFL seasons) and an injury-prone MarShawn Lloyd for the job. <\/p>\n Hubbard’s presence would not only provide the Packers with a quality option to rotate in but also the insurance the squad needs to stay afloat if the starter has to sit out. <\/p>\n Projected Landing Spot: Green Bay Packers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Panthers are poised to turn their backfield over to Jonathon Brooks in 2026. With the third-year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-829004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}