Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard has been sidelined by a hamstring injury for the last couple of weeks, but the team is not concerned about his absence stretching into the regular season.
Hubbard has been doing rehab work during the team’s practices and believes he’d be ready to go if there were a regular season game this week. Head coach Dave Canales didn’t go that far, but did say that the team expects he’ll be back to face the Bears.
“I think he hit over 20 mph the other day in [return to play], but that’s in a controlled setting,” Canales said, via the team’s website. “And right now we didn’t want to put him back out there. He’s not ready for someone to pull on his jersey and have him pull through that. But he’s ahead of schedule. He’s doing a great job.”
Jonathon Brooks has gotten more work with Hubbard out of action, which has helped prepare him for the season after missing all of last year while recovering from a torn ACL. Both backs are expected to be part of the plans come September, although it remains to be seen just how Canales will break up the workload.