Chuba Hubbard is Striving to Become a 'Complete Back' in 2022
Christian McCaffrey is back and looking as good as ever but as evidenced in the past, there's no guarantee that he will remain healthy for the full season. To help lessen the load on McCaffrey and give the team some insurance, they added veteran free agent back D'Onta Foreman this offseason to go along with Chuba Hubbard, who is entering his second season in the league.
Foreman will serve as the team's third down, short-yardage, and goal line back while McCaffrey and Hubbard will handle the bulk of the carries.
Although he may not bring the same value to the table as McCaffrey, Chuba Hubbard may be the most pivotal part of the run game. If he is able to take his game to the next level, the Panthers will have a three-headed beast in the backfield, thus will be able to keep McCaffrey fresh throughout a game and season.
"Chuba has had an excellent camp," said head coach Matt Rhule. "The year before we got him he was coming off a high ankle [injury], had the groin surgery. Last year, his contact balance was just okay. I thought later in the year it got better and better and better. The key with him right now is without the ball - in the passing game and protections. Chuba's growth in protections has been outstanding. He can play all four special teams, he can carry the load at running back, but he can also now add in that third down dimension."
Hubbard's improvements have even grabbed the attention of McCaffrey.
"He's made so many jumps. Obviously, he's physically gifted. But his timing, his patience, everything mentally, it's been fun to watch. I think watching Chuba from last year to this year, he's made a massive jump. Works his ass off everyday. And he's just a guy who, for us, is reliable. You watch him in special teams and how hard he goes in that, he's a great football player and he shows it everyday."
Hubbard wasn't expected to be thrown in to the fire as the starting running back as a rookie, but when McCaffrey went down with a hamstring injury in Week 3, he was ready for the moment.
"I always try to be ready for every single moment. Whether it's injury. Whether it's I need to fill in for someone else or do something on special teams. Regardless, I just try to keep myself ready. It was definitely a moment where I felt that I needed to utilize it, do the best I could, and mostly just be myself. Be Chuba."
Sure, it wasn't an ideal situation, but the experience of filling in as the starter a year ago was invaluable for Chuba. It sped up his learning process and gave him a large amount of reps that he otherwise would not have had coming into 2022. He took the opportunity and ran with it. Literally.
"It was huge. I think the biggest thing is really just getting those game reps and being able to play in the offense the whole game and go through the ups and downs and learn everything about the NFL, it was awesome. I was blessed to be able to fill in for Christian. Injuries are unfortunate but it was definitely a great experience.
"I've definitely learned a lot from Christian but the biggest thing is just learning to be a professional. People overlook that a lot. Being professional is taking care of your body, taking care of your mind, doing the right things, executing, and being the best football player you can be."
Hubbard said that the biggest challenge during his rookie season was his mental game. Everything from knowing where to be, knowing what to do, and how to properly recover. When you're in the same room as Christian McCaffrey, you're going to learn a lot about nutrition and getting treatment. 22 has endured a lot of injuries over the past two seasons but prior to that, he was viewed as one of the most durable players in the entire league. Soaking in all of that knowledge from McCaffrey and putting it into action has translated into having more confidence moving into the 2022 season, regardless of what his role will be within Ben McAdoo's offense.
"Learning a new playbook, that comes with it's own stuff but I'm definitely more confident and feel a lot better with my body. Last year coming into my rookie year I was coming off of injury. So body-wise I feel a lot better and more confident in my ability. So I just got to keep stacking the days.
"Wherever they need me, I'll be there. With D'Onta [Foreman] coming in, it just puts more talent on the team and with more talent it just puts you closer to success. He has a different way of running, he's more of a bigger guy but he's a smooth runner too so just to learn from him too, it's great. The more talent, the better."
In addition to taking elite care of his body, Hubbard focused on becoming a more versatile back. Last year, he had issues with pass protection, contact balance, and catching the ball out of the backfield. He concentrated on each of those areas this offseason and it has shown through the first two weeks of training camp.
"It was really just improving in all phases of football. I'm really trying to be a complete back. I'm not trying to be a first, second, or third down back. I want to be able to do it all from pass pro to running the ball to catching the ball. I focused on everything to try to have the complete package."
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