Fantasy Football Player Notes

Chuba Hubbard remained Carolina's lead back to open the 2026 season as the RB10 for the week. Hubbard handled all three of Carolina's red zone rushing attempts while playing 67.7% of the snaps with a 52.6% designed carry share and 58.1% route share. Hubbard finished with 13 touches and 87 total yards. Among 43 qualifying rushers in Week 1, Hubbard was 19th in explosive run rate and 17th in missed tackle rate. Hubbard will have uphill sledding in Week 2 if the Falcons' run defense is as good as they showed in Week 1. Last week, they allowed the third-lowest explosive run rate, had the second-best stuff rate, and the eighth-lowest missed tackle rate. We'll see if Hubbard keeps this stranglehold on the workload for the Carolina backfield all season, but he is probably again the clear lead for the Panthers this week.

Jonathon Brooks didn't see a heavy workload out of the gate for Carolina. We'll see how that evolves over time this season, but until his role grows, he's just a bench stash. Last week, he played 21% of the snaps with a 21.1% route share. Chuba Hubbard handled all of the red zone rushing work in Week 1. Brooks finished with five touches and 62 total yards. Don't flex Brooks until we see his workload increase. That could happen as early as this week, but we have to see it first.