The Carolina Panthers shocked the NFL world when they sent Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers ahead of their Week 7 action. But with their contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quickly approaching, the Panthers had to decide between Chuba Hubbard and D'Onta Foreman as their new starting running back.

While neither Foreman or Hubbard have done much of anything for the Panthers this season, Foreman was assumed to be the lead candidate for the starting role since he has gotten more work than Hubbard early on this season. But the Panthers didn't agree, and have opted to list Hubbard as their starting running back on their depth chart as their Week 7 contest against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nears.

Via Joe Person:

“Chuba Hubbard will start at RB today. But Steve Wilks indicated it will be a by-committee approach for the post-CMC Panthers.”

This is certainly an interesting call from the Panthers, as it seemed like a certainty that Foreman would be leading the way in the backfield with McCaffrey now in San Francisco. But it doesn't look like that's necessarily the case, as Hubbard has surprisingly emerged as the team's top running back for Week 7.

As Person notes here, the Panthers likely won't lean heavily on either guy in this game, as a running back committee approach seems to benefit the team more than making one of these guys a workhorse running back. While many were expecting Foreman to be the lead back, it looks like that role may have been handed to Hubbard instead, and it will be interesting to see who ends up getting the majority of the carries in the Panthers backfield on Sunday afternoon.