An ankle injury suffered in Sunday's loss at Miami will cost Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey the rest of the season.

An MRI Monday morning revealed an injury severe enough to place him on injured reserve. Because of the time it would take to recover, and because it will be his second time on injured reserve this season, the news means McCaffrey will miss out on the Panthers' final five regular season games after the bye week.

Related players: Chuba Hubbard, Ameer Abdullah, Spencer Brown

It was reported earlier today that McCaffrey's ankle injury wasn't that serious and he could return after the bye week, but the MRI changed the mind of the team. It's certainly not a surprise as McCaffrey has found it hard to stay on the field this year. With the team in a freefall and the season winding down, there wasn't much incentive to bringing McCaffrey back after another injury even if he was healthy. Hubbard will now take over as the team's lead back and has flashed earlier this season as the RB1.

Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey rolled his ankle in the loss to the Dolphins in Week 12.

Related players: Chuba Hubbard

McCaffrey rolled his ankle and left the stadium in a walking boot, according to reports. Rapoport is saying it's considered a minor injury and because the team has a bye in Week 13, CMC may end up not missing any time. With the Panthers fading fast, though, and McCaffrey seemingly not able to stay on the field, the team could use extra caution so fantasy owners will really want to track this. Grab Hubbard if he ended up back on the waiver wire.

Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey was spotted in a walking boot after rolling his ankle during Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins, a game in which Cam Newton was benched.

Just an ugly day all around for the Panthers. Newton went 5/21 for 92 yards and two interceptions before the team turned to P.J. Walker, who was not very effective himself, going just 5/10 for 87 yards and an interception of his own. McCaffrey getting injured again doesn’t help matters either. He finished with just 35 yards on ten carries. Carolina is now 5-7 after the 33-10 thumping to the suddenly hot Miami Dolphins, who have now won four straight after a 1-7 start. That 3-0 start feels like forever ago for the Panthers, who have lost seven of nine since. Carolina finally has their bye next week, giving McCaffrey time to rest before a grueling homestretch that includes the Falcons, Saints, Bills and two games against the Buccaneers.

It’s time for Carolina Panthers quarterback Sam Darnold to be benched -- permanently.

For the past five weeks, Darnold could fall back on the excuse of not having his security blanket, Christian McCaffrey, when making mistakes that cost Carolina chances to win.

But even with the running back’s return for Sunday’s 24-6 loss to the New England Patriots (5-4), Darnold continued to make the same mistakes that plagued him for three years with the New York Jets and five of the past six games with Carolina (4-5).

Related players: P.J. Walker

Darnold threw three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, when he missed a wide-open player. That gives him 10 interceptions in the past six games, five of them losses, the story said. While this is just one opinion, and despite the story's headline, the piece did point out Walker is prone to mistakes as well, and those mistakes have kept him from being more of a factor by now. Those in deeper superflex leagues maybe want to put a claim in for for Walker if he's on your wire.

Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey (hamstring) was designated to return from IR, giving him three weeks to play before being lost for the season.

Related Player: Chuba Hubbard

Good news for Panthers fans and fantasy players alike. The best news with CMC's impending return is that Hubbard is more than capable of handling a larger workload and can help ease McCaffrey back into his normal workload.

Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey hasn’t played since suffering a hamstring injury against the Texans in Week Three. But it’s sounding like he should be back on the field imminently.

“Hopefully we get Christian back soon. Hopefully, it’s this week. If not this week, then next week,” Carolina head coach Matt Rhule said in his Monday press conference. “Obviously, he’s one of the best players in football. He brings something.”

Related players: Chuba Hubbard

McCaffrey initially did not go on injured reserve after he went down against Houston. But the Panthers then placed him on IR on Oct. 16, which shut him down for an additional three weeks. If McCaffrey practices Wednesday, that would begin his 21-day practice window for returning from IR, the story said. It remains to be seen if he'll be able to play in Week 9, an early-afternoon home game against the Patriots.

Matt Rhule said we'll see a vastly different look from the Panthers moving forward.

Related players: Sam Darnold, Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, Chuba Hubbard

It sounds like the team wants to get back to running the ball. The tweet said Rhule added they won't throw 40 times a game. Rhule also said: "We're going to redefine who we are and we're going to run the football and protect the quarterback." It will help to get McCaffrey back in the fold, but Hubbard proved worthy in the run game against the Eagles in Week 5, rushing for over 100 yards. Hubbard ran just 16 times in Week 6 while Darnold threw 41 times.

Initially held off IR following his Week 3 injury this is a surprising and devastating hit to the Panthers. Matt Rhule recently argued that CMC hadn't faced any setbacks and was expected back Week 7 but with this move won’t be eligible until Week 9 at the earliest.

Chubba Hubbard will continue handling workload and may see an expanded role as the rookie had his best performance against Pittsburgh last week seeing 29 touches for 134 all-purpose yards.

Panthers RB Christian McCaffrey (hamstring) will miss Week 6 against the Minnesota Vikings.

Related Player: Chuba Hubbard

CMC increased his practice reps earlier in the week prior to late-week DNPs. Week 7 is another opportunity for the Panthers to get McCaffrey back.

Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey missed Thursday's practice with a hamstring injury.

There is still no definitive word on if the missed practice was due to a simple maintenance day or if CMC suffered a setback. We should get more clarity on this situation tomorrow afternoon when the Panthers take the field for practice. There was optimism that he would make his return this week, but the missed practice has set off the alarm bells. After Wednesday's session, CMC was tabbed as 50-50 by head coach Matt Rhule (he does not talk to the media on Thursdays). Chuba Hubbard has looked like a steal since taking over the lead back duties and is currently our 14th ranked running back for Week 6.