Carolina Panthers “underrated” running back tandem for 2025 earns high ranking

Moe Moton of Bleacher Report has ranked the league’s Top 10 running back duos entering the upcoming season. Only two teams (Lions and Buccaneers) have a backfield tandem ranked ahead of Dave Canales’s club.

“The Carolina Panthers will field the most underrated running back duo. They have the only tandem that racked up 1,000-plus rushing yards apiece last season. Chuba Hubbard registered career highs in rushing yards (1,195) and touchdowns (10). Meanwhile, Rico Dowdle accumulated a career-high 1,079 rushing yards and two touchdowns with the Dallas Cowboys.

Dowdle could have posted a more impressive rushing total for the season,” added Moton, “if the Cowboys featured him in the first half of the campaign. Nonetheless, Hubbard and Dowdle are both capable of hitting the century mark on the ground in any given week. The latter should see more targets in the passing game, though.”

Dec 29, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle (23) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The former could also become a key part of Canales’s passing game. In 2024, he finished fourth on the Cowboys when it came to receptions. “Last year, Dowdle caught 39 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns,” explained Moton, “while Hubbard hauled in 43 passes for an inefficient 171 yards and a touchdown. If Dowdle becomes a reliable outlet for Bryce Young, the Panthers' top two tailbacks could eclipse 1,000 scrimmage yards in the upcoming term.”

Here is something else to ponder. Only seven times in NFL history has a team had two players rush for at least 1,000 yards in the same season. It lasted occurred in 2019 with Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back Mark Ingram. The Panthers achieved that feat in 2009 with Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams, which marks the last time two running backs totaled 1,000-plus yards on the ground in the same season. Nonetheless, if Hubbard and Dowdle come up big in 2025, the Panthers would be the first team in league annals to have a pair of 1,000-yard runners in the same season twice.

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