Panthers HC Dave Canales did not commit to Chuba Hubbard as his lead back going forward when asked on Monday. RB Rico Dowdle ripped the Dolphins for 206 yards and 23 carries in Week 5 -- just 11 fewer rushing yards than Hubbard totaled over the first four games of the season.
Canales on whether Dowdle's Week 5 performance will impact Hubbard's role: "What I take from it is that we have two good backs. So, we’ll have to figure that part out. That’s a good problem to have, but it’s something that we have to work through."
Hubbard will need to get over his calf issue before any of this matters. Canales said Monday that Hubbard will be evaluated throughout this week, so it sounds like he's uncertain for Sunday's game vs. the Cowboys.
Hubbard does have one key edge over Dowdle: His contract. He's playing on a four-year, $33.2 million deal, while Dowdle got just $2.75 million on his one-year deal this offseason. While that shouldn't impact playing time, it very often does.
Our guess is that a healthy Hubbard will get another chance to re-establish himself as the lead back. But it might be more of a 63-35 or 60-40 split than what we got at the start of the season. And if Dowdle continues to out-play Hubbard, he could certainly take over as the lead back for good.
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