ESPN reports that Panthers to put Canadian Hubbard on season-ending IR

It appears Canadian Chuba Hubbard’s breakout 2024 season is over.

ESPN reports that the Carolina Panthers are putting the star running back on season-ending injured reserve with calf and knee injuries.

Carolina (4-11) faces the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-7) on Sunday.

Hubbard, 25, of Sherwood Park, Alta., has run for a career-high 1,195 yards (4.8-yard average) this season, becoming just the second Canadian to break the 1,000-yard rushing threshold in an NFL campaign.

Rueben Mayes, of North Battleford, Sask., was the first in 1986 when he recorded a career-high 1,353 yards as a rookie with the New Orleans Saints.

That total also stands as a single-season rushing high for a Canadian playing in the NFL.

The six-foot-one, 210-pound Hubbard, currently sixth among NFL rushers, needed 159 yards over Carolina’s final two games to surpass Mayes’s mark.

Last week, Hubbard rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns in leading Carolina to a 36-30 overtime win over the Arizona Cardinals, scoring the game-winning TD on a 21-yard run in the extra session.

Hubbard’s play earned him NFC offensive player of the week honours.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2024.