Carolina plans to emphasize the running game more in the 2026 season, with offensive coordinator Brad Idzik taking over play-calling and the Panthers hoping for a lift from a backfield that now includes Jonathon Brooks, Chuba Hubbard and AJ Dillon.
Brooks, who returned to the mix after consecutive ACL surgeries, was sidelined in practice last week with general soreness and missed Monday’s workout. Coach Dave Canales said last Thursday he was “very optimistic” Brooks would be available for Week 1 against the Chicago Bears (Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, Fox), but on Monday added he would not provide an update until Wednesday and remained hopeful about Brooks’ status.
Canales said the Panthers will continue to deploy a tandem approach in the backfield. “Yeah, we’ll definitely roll it out just the way we have been,” he said, adding that the team will use a lead back for base series while rotating the other body for third-down work, protection and running on third down. “But whoever the lead guy for the base downs is, they’ll get the bulk of that rhythm.” The team cites last season’s use of Rico Dowdle as an example of riding the hot hand.
Hubbard, 27, finished 2025 with 511 rushing yards and a touchdown on 134 carries (3.8 yards per carry) and added 223 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 30 catches (7.4 yards per catch). He was hampered by a calf injury in 2025 that cost him two games, lost the starting job to Dowdle late in the year and was later the primary back in the Panthers’ wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Hubbard missed the entire 2026 preseason with a hamstring issue after otherwise being placed on a load-management plan in camp; he has returned to practice.
Brooks, 23, has no 2025 stats after tearing his right ACL in 2023 at Texas and suffering another tear in 2024, which kept him out for the 2025 season and limited him to three games in 2024. He made his training camp and preseason debuts this summer after spending the previous two offseasons recovering from ACL surgeries. Hubbard’s four-year, $33.2 million extension signed in 2024 and his 1,195-yard, 10-touchdown season in 2024 underscore Carolina’s hope that the running game can return to form.
