Carolina Panthers star running back Christian McCaffrey didn't practice on Thursday, which was a bad sign for his status for Sunday's Week 6 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. Sure enough, the Panthers ruled McCaffrey out on Friday.

The Panthers star has been out since suffering a hamstring injury in Week 3 on Thursday Night Football against the Houston Texans. There was some hope he would be back in the lineup for Week 6, but those hopes have now been dashed.

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This means rookie Chuba Hubbard is in line for the bulk of the workload once again. Hubbard ran the ball 24 times for 101 yards in Week 5's loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He also caught five passes for 33 yards.

Carolina has now lost two games in a row since starting 3-0. While Hubbard has done an admirable job in relief of McCaffrey, the Panthers would love to get their superstar back in the lineup to help out Sam Darnold.

After three straight seasons in which he played all 16 games, this is McCaffrey's second consecutive season dealing with injuries. The running back played just three games in 2020 and will have now missed three games out of six in 2021.