Chuba Hubbard Week 1 Outlook - Panthers at Saints

By Derek Brown (FantasyPros), Wed, Sep 4th 2024, 8:38pm EDT

With Jonathon Brooks still recovering from his torn ACL, Hubbard should carry the mail for Carolina until he's ready. Last year, as the Panthers starting tailback, he was the RB24 in fantasy points per game, he averaged 19.2 touches and 77.7 total yards. Hubbard wasn't an efficiency maven, though, ranking 30th in explosive run rate, 32nd in missed tackles forced per attempt, and 31st in yards after contact per attempt. Last year, with Dave Cannales, the Bucs utilized zone on 46.7% of their snaps. The Panthers should be a zone-heavy team this year after utilizing it on 53% of their rushing plays last year (Hubbard 57.1% zone). The Saints allowed the 10th-highest yards per carry to zone runs last year. Overall, they allowed the 13th-highest missed tackles per attempt and the 10th-highest yards after contact per attempt. Hubbard is flex-worthy in Week 1 and could easily be a strong RB2 when it's all said and done against the Saints.