Panthers RB Chuba Hubbard wound up with a nice Week 1 fantasy line, ranking seventh among PPR scorers at the position with Monday night's game yet to go. But his 27-yard catch-and-run TD late in the fourth quarter did the heavy lifting, accounting for 54.2% of his fantasy points. Otherwise, Hubbard managed just 57 rushing yards on 16 carries (3.6 per rush) and 2 catches for 5 yards.
2025 Fantasy Football Impact
Hubbard remained Carolina's clear lead back in Sunday's opener, playing nearly twice as many snaps vs. No. 2 Rico Dowdle, while rookie Trevor Etienne played only two snaps.
But Hubbard ran just 20 pass routes to Dowdle's 14. He edged Dowdle 5-3 in targets and 3-2 in catches. Hubbard will need to maintain those edges to continue making sense in fantasy lineups.
It's worth noting that all this came against a Jacksonville defense that ranked among the worst in the league in all facets last season. The Jaguars will probably prove to be better this time around, primarily because they couldn't get much worse. But it's unlikely that they already flipped to being a tough matchup.
Hubbard did, at least, continue to dominate the rushing work. He took 80% of the RB carries Sunday.
Week 2 presents a seemingly neutral matchup with the Cardinals, who allowed 4.3 yards per rush to Saints RBs in Week 1.
After that comes a home date with the Falcons.