Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle partnership illustrates team-building fail for Panthers

The Carolina Panthers, on paper, had a good problem in 2025: two starting-level running backs. Chuba Hubbard was phenomenal in 2023 and 2024, and Rico Dowdle was strong (better earlier in the year) once given the reins.

The Seattle Seahawks have two good running backs, and so do the Detroit Lions. It's a good problem to have. But for the Panthers, it was actually not a good problem because of the style of these two backs.

Panthers failed with Rico Dowdle, Chuba Hubbard backfield

The Carolina Panthers signed Rico Dowdle to be the backup to Chuba Hubbard, but he eventually got the job after Hubbard got hurt and never really gave it back. But since he's on a one-year deal, it seemed like a short-term situation.

Many have called for the Panthers to keep Dowdle over Hubbard, and it's not hard to see why. But we all know the Panthers aren't going to move on from Hubbard after his four-year extension last season. They love him.

The next-most logical option is to re-sign Dowdle and run it back, but that's not too ideal, either. For one thing, the Panthers can't really afford to devote a lot more to the running back position in terms of roster spots and salary cap.

But beyond that, the partnership was not ideal from a team-building standpoint. The Lions' backfield is the best example of the two-back system, and that's how it should be done. They have a speed demon (Jahmyr Gibbs) and a more bruising back (David Montgomery).

Neither Dowdle nor Hubbard are speedy. And for that matter, Jonathon Brooks and Trevor Etienne don't fit that description terribly well, either.

Dowdle is a more violent runner than Hubbard, but they're still pretty similar. There's no real change of pace. Neither one is a threat that defenses are too worried about catching passes out of the backfield.

The two backs are, by and large, just slightly different versions of one another. That's not a great situation for an NFL offense. Sure, it helps that they're both good, but it would be so much better if they were different players that did different things.

That would open up the playbook, allowing them to be on the field together to confuse defenses and keep them on their toes. But other than that, it would give the Panthers a lot more to do with the running game and likely give Bryce Young a true pass-catcher out of the backfield.

This does not mean the Panthers are going to invest in another running back this offseason. It just means they probably don't need to keep both Dowdle and Hubbard, which means Dowdle is as good as gone.

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