Are we sure it matters if he's lost the backfield or not? Unless Bryce Young has suddenly had the mental light switch turned on and will ball out the rest of season, I'm not going to be feeling great about starting any running back from the Panthers this year whether Sanders, Hubbard, or anyone else.
I went to playerprofiler.com to check on the tendencies for Sanders. Average number of defenders in the box, if you can believe it, 6.3! That's way down there, 63rd in the league. His base & stacked front carry rates aren't that low but they're down there too. His light front carry rate, a tick above 65%, 5th in the NFL. Add to that a negative game script of -4.77 points. So, often behind on the scoreboard. I would assume, a lot of 11 personnel, a lot of spread formation. I see that 2/3rd of his carries are out of shotgun formation. Can't say for sure but we often see this play. The QB is in the gun & the RB is positioned adjacent to him. The ball is snapped & everybody explodes off the LOS. Except two guys, the QB & the ball carrier. The QB receives the snap, pivots & sticks the ball into the belly of the RB. Flat-footed, he's then to make something out of that.
All throughout the history of football, that has to be the worst play run by every team in every game! Then why do teams run it? My guess is for the most part, it has replaced the old draw play. Offenses pass far more than before, the defensive mix to get to the QB, at times very elaborate. Yet the draw play, rendered obsolete. All I can think is that defenses are faster, better athletes who can quickly disengage & redirect. The draw is time-intensive, slower to develop. More than before, the QB himself is capable of running. Which also adds the versatility of pass or run. They look to throw but what they wanted isn't there, but a rush lane is.
The other thing that's gone is the QB's follow-through. Used to be from under center the QB would take a 3, 5 or 7 step drop. That last step was often a determined plant & sink. Then his follow through up out of it referred to as "climbing the pocket". The rise back up, the forward momentum, finally the plant step & over the top release. The knee on the plant foot, really vulnerable. Gone. Just a week or two ago Brock Purdy himself acknowledging he doesn't have one of the better arms in the league. But there he is, back there throwing off his back foot. I've seen him fade on some of those, even when he doesn't have to. I mean, whatever.