As Week 4 comes to a close Jonathon Brooks is eligible to come off the non-football injury list, but the Panthers are holding off on activating him for now. This underscores that Chuba Hubbard looks likely to be their leading running back for the duration of the season.
The Panthers are seemingly playing the long game with Brooks, the first running back picked back in April. He tore his ACL back in November at Texas, and he hasn’t yet practiced with the team. When they bring him back to practice, they’ll have 21 days to either place him on the 53-man roster or he’ll head to IR.
If the Panthers have him scouted properly and his knee is fully healed, he’ll presumably be a top-10 kind of back. They wouldn’t have selected him in the first half of the second round if they believed otherwise.
But as well as Hubbard (pictured) is playing, it would be tough for Brooks to come and take the starting job. Hubbard has the benefit of having been around for three-plus yards; he’s a pro. And he’s playing hard in what’s a contract year for him.
Hubbard has gone over 100 yards in back-to-back games, and he’s averaging at least 5.4 yards per carry in three straight. For the season, he’s averaging 5.4 yards per attempt.
There are 28 running backs who’s carried the ball at least 40 times in the first four weeks of the season, and Hubbard has averaged more yards per attempt than all but three of them – Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley and J.K. Dobbins (all backs, by the way, who signed with new teams in the offseason).
If Hubbard stays healthy, it seems unlikely Brooks will be passing him on the depth chart this year. More realistically, Brooks is trying to get healthy enough to where he can challenge Miles Sanders for the team’s No. 2 back duties.
| YARDS PER CARRY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| J.K. Dobbins, LAC | 56 | 342 | 6.1 | 2 |
| Derrick Henry, Balt. | 80 | 480 | 6.0 | 5 |
| Saquon Barkley, Phil. | 73 | 435 | 6.0 | 4 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Car. | 55 | 296 | 5.4 | 1 |
| Jahmyr Gibbs, Det. | 40 | 207 | 5.2 | 1 |
| Aaron Jones, Min. | 64 | 321 | 5.0 | 1 |
| Jordan Mason, S.F. | 91 | 447 | 4.9 | 3 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 72 | 349 | 4.8 | 4 |
| Brian Robinson, Was. | 66 | 307 | 4.7 | 3 |
| Josh Jacobs, G.B. | 71 | 329 | 4.6 | 0 |
| James Conner, Ari. | 64 | 293 | 4.6 | 3 |
| Travis Etienne, Jac. | 47 | 214 | 4.6 | 2 |
| James Cook, Buff. | 50 | 227 | 4.5 | 3 |
| David Montgomery, Det. | 51 | 231 | 4.5 | 3 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 80 | 362 | 4.5 | 5 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | 65 | 267 | 4.1 | 2 |
| Bijan Robinson, Atl. | 55 | 224 | 4.1 | 1 |
| Devin Singletary, NYG | 56 | 221 | 3.9 | 2 |
| Zack Moss, Cin. | 48 | 187 | 3.9 | 2 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | 73 | 258 | 3.5 | 5 |
| Zach Charbonnet, Sea. | 40 | 141 | 3.5 | 3 |
| De'Von Achane, Mia. | 43 | 150 | 3.5 | 1 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 68 | 228 | 3.4 | 0 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | 40 | 129 | 3.2 | 0 |
| Breece Hall, NYJ | 56 | 174 | 3.1 | 2 |
| Zamir White, L.V. | 49 | 152 | 3.1 | 0 |
| D'Andre Swift, Chi. | 53 | 161 | 3.0 | 1 |
| Rachaad White, T.B. | 41 | 115 | 2.8 | 0 |
—Ian Allan