ESPN says Panthers studying Lions, Seahawks for Rico Dowdle-Chubba Hubbard ideas

Carolina is looking at Detroit and Seattle to see how they might solve the riddle of what to do with Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard.

Oct 12, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle (5) celebrates a first down during the second half against the Dallas Cowboys at Bank of America Stadium. | Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

The Carolina Panthers will be getting Chuba Hubbard back in the lineup for today's road game against the New York Jets. With a victory, the Panthers will have won four of their last five games and improve to over .500 for the first time this late in the season in six years.

The simplest way that the Panthers can get the job done is to ride the hottest hand on their roster: running back Rico Dowdle.

With Hubbard out the last two weeks Dowdle has exploded onto the scene as the NFL's most productive running back, posting over 230 yards from scrimmage in consecutive games.

Riding Dowdle as long as he's playing like Emmitt Smith seems like an obvious strategy, but the Panthers seem determined to overthink it. Accoridng to a report by Adam Schefter at ESPN, Carolina has been studying how the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks handle their backfield splits.

Panthers studying Lions, Seahawks RBs

"The Panthers recently have spent time studying and inquiring about how other teams with productive running back tandems have juggled the workload between two backs, league sources told ESPN. The Panthers looked at how the Lions have worked with their talented tandem of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, and how the Seahawks did it with Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet when Carolina head coach Dave Canales worked in Seattle."

Oct 12, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) warms up before the game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. | Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

All due respect to Chuba Hubbard and the Panthers' coaching staff, this is silly.

First of all, there's very little that Carolina can learn from Detroit's arrangement because their situation is totally different. In Gibbs and Montgomery they have two legitimate stars at running back, and everything they run with Gibbs they can run with Montgomery, and vice-versa.

By comparison, the Panthers have a surprise breakout superstar with Dowdle, and a running back who hasn't scored a touchdown yet, or forced one missed tackle, or broken off a single explosive run all season.

It can be instructive to study what the Seahawks are doing, but only if it's to learn what not to do.

There Seattle has an insanely talented and athletic back in Kenneth Walker III, who's far more efficient and explosive than Zach Charbonnet. Nevertheless, Seattle has forced a running back share - even though every carry for Charbonnet has become a wasted opportunity.

If the Panthers are smart, they'll learn from the Seahawks' mistake and give Dowdle the vast majority of the snaps and the carries in their backfield.

Until Dowdle either cools off or gets himself injured, the only playing time Hubbard should see is when Dowdle needs to catch his breath on the sideline after breaking off another big run.

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