Insider confirms Panthers' plan for big change at running back vs. Packers

Whatever reasons Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales may have had for his running back rotation the last two weeks, he's thankfully decided to abandon them.

Speaking with reporters earlier this week, Canales hinted that a change would be coming on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers - and it would mean that Rico Dowdle will be getting the majority of the snaps and the carries, this week.

Now we have confimation, courtesy of Joe Person at The Athletic. He's reporting that the Panthers plan to not only start Dowdle at running back rather than Chuba Hubbard, but also give him the bulk of the carries.

Panthers RB Rico Dowdle will start and get the bulk of the carries Sunday at Green Bay, per league sources. But I'd expect Chuba Hubbard to be part of the offense, as well.
Dave Canales strongly suggested this would be the case at the start of the week.
— Joe Person (@josephperson) October 31, 2025

The change comes not a minute too soon, as the Panthers are about to face the second-best run defense that they have all season.

Through seven games played, the Packers have only allowed 78.9 rushing yards per game - ranking third-fewest in the league, just a shade behind the New England Patriots, who blasted the Panthers by a score of 42-13 back in Week 4.

It was becoming impossible for Canales to justify splitting the carries, in any case. While Hubbard is averaging 3.6 yards per carry and has only scored one touchdown, Dowdle is averaging 5.7 yards per attempt - the third-best mark in the NFL this season - and has many more explosive runs. Hubbard's longest on the year is just 14 yards, compared to 53 for Dowdle.

By almost any metric you can possibly find, Dowdle has outplayed Hubbard by a wide margin - including as a pass-catcher, where he has a 52.9% success rate compared to just 38.1% for Hubbard. He's also more elusive. Dowdle has broken eight tackles and has totaled 290 yards after contact, while Hubbard has zero broken tackles on the year and 151 yards after contact.

If there's a silver lining, the ridiculous drive-by-drive rotation really didn't cost the Panthers a game - even if Dowdle had gone off against the Bills the end result likely would have been no different - and Carolina managed to beat the Jets in ugly fashion the week before.

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