It’s an issue that has captivated the NFL in recent years, eliciting endless debate, comparing history to likelihood, and causing rippling effects throughout contract talks and selection boards.
However, the Panthers consider it “non-negotiable.”
Since 2014, there have been 12 backs drafted in the first round, and six in the top ten. There was one of the latter as recently as last year, when Texas running back Bijan Robinson was drafted at No. 8 overall by the Falcons. But through the first day of the 2024 NFL draft on Thursday, there wasn’t a single running back’s name called. One wouldn’t come off the board until midway through the second round, on Day 2, when the Panthers selected Texas back Jonathon Brooks, at No. 46 overall.
The league might not see value. But the Panthers saw 1,139 rushing yards, a 6.1-yard-per-carry average, 10 rushing touchdowns, and they saw the future.
Heading into the draft, Panthers head coach Dave Canales was aware of the narrative the league has set around running backs, and the opportunity that created for them.
“I think we do have to just kind of trust, you know, what does the league say,” Canales said Friday night after the draft. “Where does everybody see the value of the running back; and we have to play off of that too and just be aware of it.”
While cognizant of the changing value around backs, Canales and his staff, along with general manager Dan Morgan, have to weigh it against what’s most valuable to this Panthers team, and it’s clear that the running game matters here.
“We value the running backs; we value the run game,” Morgan said simply.
Perhaps nothing more exemplifies the Panthers’ value of a running back than the fact that they drafted the first one off the board this year while already having two men with established credentials: Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders.
Hubbard had 238 carries for 902 yards and 39 receptions for 233 yards last season. Sanders, in his first year in Carolina after four in Philadelphia, had 129 carries for 432 yards, but he is only one year removed from a 1,000-yard season (1,269 yards on 259 carries).
Brooks knows he can learn from the two, saying Friday, “those are two good running backs for me to go in there and learn off of, you know, they’ve been in the league for some years.”
Still, if his arrival pushes the team’s running game to new heights, that’s the point.
“We got a really good running back room right now and when Dave and I took this job, we said that we were going to create competition in every position group,” Morgan said. “It just so happened, you know, Jonathon was there. We took the opportunity to draft him, and I think it’s going to be a really competitive group and I’m excited to see them all compete during training camp and OTAs and it’s going to be fun.”
And for Canales, an extra running back is necessary for his expanded playbook.
