Chuba Hubbard is headed into the Panthers’ 2026 season with a familiar mission and a very different mindset than the one he carried through last year.
After putting up more than 2,000 total yards across his 2023 and 2024 seasons, Hubbard’s 2025 production dipped hard. He finished with 134 carries for 511 yards, a number that landed far below what he expected from himself. A lingering calf strain from a Week 4 game against the Patriots last September slowed him down and eventually bumped him to second-string behind Rico Dowdle, cutting into both his workload and his impact.
Now, Hubbard says he’s back where he wants to be.
“I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life,” he said Thursday, three days before the Panthers’ season opener against the Bears. “I worked really hard this offseason. Obviously I have a chip on my shoulder from last year.”
That bounce-back matters because Hubbard is expected to open the 2026 season as Carolina’s starting running back. With much of the attention around the room centered on whether Jonathon Brooks would be available for Week 1, it’s easy to overlook that Hubbard should still be the engine of the Panthers’ ground attack. If he can get close to the level he showed two and three seasons ago, Carolina’s run game could be in solid shape.
“At the end of the day, I want to be able to help my team win games,” Hubbard said. “I feel like I missed the mark last year.”
There’s also a new title attached to Hubbard this season. He was named a captain a week ago, but he doesn’t sound like a player who plans to treat that as a personality shift.
“I always looked at myself as a leader before that, and I’m thankful that my team voted me as a captain,” he said. “Regardless if I got that C or not, I was gonna continue to be me, just like last year and the year before.”
Hubbard’s road back has included more than one setback. He was already frustrated by last season’s injury, then suffered another one in training camp when a hamstring kept him out of all three preseason games and both joint practices with the Jaguars and Texans.
Even so, he’s framing the whole stretch as motivation.
“I think that God puts me in positions to stay hungry and keep working hard,” Hubbard said. “There’s nothing wrong with having a chip on your shoulder. I like to think that I work best sometimes when it’s like that.”
That grind has been shared with Brooks, who has torn his ACL in back-to-back seasons and still hasn’t produced meaningful results for Carolina. Hubbard says the two have leaned on each other through the offseason.
“The year before, and even this year, we worked side by side with each other all offseason,” Hubbard said. “He showed up with me, I challenged him, he challenged me. He let me push him, and it helped him get to the best spot he’s been in in a long time.”
If Hubbard is healthy and Brooks is, too, the Panthers may have enough in the backfield to help Bryce Young get the kind of season that would show he can be Carolina’s franchise quarterback.
In Other News...
Panthers Are Making A Rare Uniform Change Fans Will Notice All Season
The Panthers are set to make a subtle but notable shift in 2026, one that will stand out to longtime fans who have watched the franchises home look stay largely the same for years. For the first time in team history, Carolina will not wear white jerseys at home, starting the season by bringing out its blue tops with black pants, socks and alternate black helmets against the Chicago Bears.
The change also reshapes the road wardrobe in a way that keeps the contrast simple and familiar. Carolina will wear white jerseys in all eight away games next season, making the home-road split even more defined while giving the team a new visual identity at Bank of America Stadium all year long. [Read more 🡒]
Bears Add A Late QB Twist Before Panthers Season Opener
The Panthers season opener got a little more interesting on the other sideline Friday, when the Bears added quarterback Miller Moss to their practice squad and then elevated him for Week 1. Chicago is still planning to start Caleb Williams against Carolina, but the move gives the Bears another layer of insurance behind him as they sort through their backup situation.
Moss, an undrafted rookie out of USC and Louisville, now enters game day in a spot that could matter if Tyson Bagent is unable to go. For Carolina, it is the kind of late-week wrinkle that rarely changes the headline matchup but can still shape how a first game unfolds if the Bears have to lean deeper into their quarterback room than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers May Get A Tougher Week 1 Test Than Expected
The Panthers Week 1 opener may not come with quite as much relief as it looked like it might a few days ago. Chicago wide receiver Rome Odunze had been limited in practice because of a calf strain, but he was back on the field in a limited capacity Friday and said he feels ready for the game against Carolina.
Odunze was listed as questionable, leaving the final call in the Bears hands after their medical staff weighs in. For Carolina, that adds another layer to an early test that already looked tricky enough, especially if Chicago gets one of its more talented young weapons available at near full strength. [Read more 🡒]