The Carolina Panthers don’t have a lot of realistic trade chips. The fringe starters they could move on from, with all due respect, are not all that good, so they wouldn’t get anything for trading players like D.J. Wonnum, Hunter Renfrow, Nick Scott, or Tommy Tremble.
The bigger pieces are far too important to what Carolina is building to move off of. Derrick Brown, Tetairoa McMillan, Jaycee Horn, Tre’von Moehrig, Taylor Moton, and others are too good. But there is one player right in the middle of all that makes him, per one insider, the Panthers’ best trade chip.
Chuba Hubbard has suddenly become expendable. When he signed the extension last season, he was anything but, but Rico Dowdle has taken his job and probably forced the Panthers to reconsider their RB room.
And that makes Hubbard, a 27-TD veteran who nearly made the Pro Bowl last year, expendable and the Panthers’ best asset for trading. At least, that’s how Bleacher Report insider Brad Gagnon sees things.
“Rico Dowdle has easily outperformed Hubbard this season, which should lead to a new contract or the franchise tag. Carolina also used a first-round pick on Trevor Etienne, who has played well in limited action as a rookie. Hubbard still has a strong track record, and someone else could save the Panthers some cash by seeing if the 26-year-old can excel elsewhere,” Gagnon said.
It would be a tough pill for Panthers fans to swallow if the team let Dowdle walk. He was given a one-year flyer contract, but he’s more than earned an extension. It’s not clear if they’ll give it to him, but the best route would be trading Hubbard and extending Dowdle.
Other teams will realize that Hubbard is, at least right now, a little depleted. That will drive his cost down, but they will also remember that he’s capable of being a Pro Bowl-caliber back that’s on a fairly inexpensive long-term deal.
Hubbard has team control and is making a little over $8 million, which is hardly exorbitant for a starting running back. Maybe he’s not quite healthy (which would make sense) or just needs a change, but another team would certainly benefit from his services.
New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields produced yet another woeful outing as the Jets fell to 2-8 on the season via a 27-14 loss at the New England Patriots (9-2) on Thursday night.
As has been the case throughout the fall, first-year Jets head coach Aaron Glenn defended Fields while speaking with reporters after the defeat.
“There were some good things, really good things,” Glenn said when asked how he felt Fields played at Gillette Stadium, per the Patriots’ website. “I thought he put some balls out there. We got to have some guys that make some plays for him, too. I know for a fact he’s going to say there are some things he can do better. We have to watch the tape, but I thought there were some good things he did out there.”
Glenn was right, as Fields did acknowledge he was “not good enough” after he completed 15-of-26 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown versus New England. Fields also led the Jets with 67 rushing yards, and he tallied a score on the ground.
As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk noted, though, Fields was sacked twice for 11 yards. That dropped his net yardage for the evening to 105.
As Matt Clapp shared for Awful Announcing, former player and current NFL analyst Willie Colon ripped Glenn during the Jets’ postgame show on SNY for not turning to backup signal-caller Tyrod Taylor when Gang Green entered halftime of Thursday’s matchup down by just seven points (14-7).
“Justin Fields is not an NFL quarterback,” Colon said. “Let’s be honest. …And you can’t sit here and tell your team before games, I want them to rally, I want them to give you all they got, when you’re not giving your team everything they need to be successful.”
Previous reports suggested Glenn would give Taylor a shot if Fields’ passing struggles continued on Thursday evening. Without directly saying so, Glenn indicated during his postgame comments that he never considered going down that road.
“I’m sure there are some things Justin is going to say, ‘I could have done better, could have made some plays,'” Glenn explained. “Then again, there are some plays out there our guys got to make for him also, and you’ll be able to see that as you go back and watch the tape. …I thought he had some really good throws. We just got to finish those.”
It’s unclear if Fields or Taylor will start when the Jets face the Baltimore Ravens on Nov. 23. 4-5 Baltimore plays at the Cleveland Browns (2-7) this coming Sunday.