Evidence continues to mount for Rico Dowdle to take RB1 role

For two weeks, Rico Dowdle looked like the best running back in football. The Carolina Panthers gave him plenty of touches in lieu of the injured Chuba Hubbard, and he made the most of them. It looked, in comparison, that Dowdle was clearly the better back.

Given how good Hubbard was in 2024, it wasn't crazy for Dave Canales to split carries between the two of them last week. But in doing so, it further confirmed that, at least right now, Dowdle remains the better back. Evidence to that point continues to mount despite Canales being more likely to keep force-feeding Hubbard.

Rico Dowdle is clearly the best Panthers back right now

For the first four weeks of the season, Rico Dowdle was an afterthought. He got some carries in relief of Chuba Hubbard, but he was clearly just a seldom-used backup. Then, when Hubbard went down, he went off. He continued playing well even after Hubbard came back.

Per @NextGenStats Rico Dowdle is 4th in Rush Yds Over Expected behind Javonte Williams, Jonathan Taylor & Quinshon Judkins.

He's 3rd in RYOE/attempt behind Javonte & David Montgomery.

He's also 3rd in overall rushing yards.

Right now he's one of the best RBs in the NFL 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/GsQc027U66
— Keep Purring Podcast (Ben) (@KeepPurringBen) October 23, 2025

But despite that low usage rate for most of the season, Dowdle is incomprehensibly third in the NFL in rushing yards. And per Next Gen Stats, he's fourth in rush yards over expected, meaning he's been the fourth-best back in the NFL at making something out of nothing.

He's in that group with Quinshon Judkins, Javonte Williams, and Jonathan Taylor. If you break that metric down by attempt, then Dowdle ranks third alongside Williams and David Montgomery. And of course, he has more rushing yards than all but two NFL running backs.

With all due respect to Hubbard, who has been a workhorse and a standout for the Panthers the last two seasons, Dowdle is one of the best running backs in football right now. Hubbard got slightly fewer touches last week, but he still outsnapped Dowdle.

That obviously cannot be the case moving forward, but Canales said he liked what he saw on Sunday and liked how Hubbard played, so nothing's going to change. But the evidence that there needs to be a switch is steadily mounting, and if the Panthers want to keep winning, they must make that switch.

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