NFL analyst states the obvious about Rico Dowdle & Chuba Hubbard

Chuba Hubbard put together a very strong 2024 season for the Carolina Panthers, totaling nearly 1,200 rushing yards and scoring 10 touchdowns on the ground. They rewarded him with a four-year, $33.2 million contract that at the time made him one of the NFL's top-10 highest-paid running backs.

All due respect to Hubbard and what he's accomplished in his career, that may as well have been a million years ago in football time.

The Panthers have a far superior rushing option on their roster in Rico Dowdle, who was the league's most-explosive rusher by far in the two games that Hubbard recently sat out with a calf injury.

Nevertheless, head coach Dave Canales put Hubbard back in the starting lineup this past week against the New York Jets, and he wound up putting in more snaps than Dowdle, even though the latter was once again far more efficient.

At this point everyone but Canales can see that Dowdle is the better option, including the staff at NFL.com. Here's what they said about Carolina's inexplicabe running back split this week.

NFL.com on Dowdle vs. Hubbard

"Dowdle was the more productive, generating 79 yards on 17 carries to Hubbard’s 31 on 14 totes. The question is whether the Panthers will ride Dowdle, clearly the better back at this point, or continue to lean on both and hope Hubbard’s 2.2 yards per carry this week was a product of knocking off rust."

The rushing split is bad enough - but Hubbard running far more routes than Dowdle is even more questionable, as he's proven to have very little value as a receiver in his career.

Despite his relatively limited playing time, Dowdle ranks third in the league in rushing yards (551) going into Week 8.

We still haven't heard a satisfying answer from Canales as to why he's prioritizing Hubbard over a much more efficient running back. Whatever his reasoning is, it clearly has nothing to do with making the best possible football decision.

Oct 19, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales looks on during warmups prior to the game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

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