PFF Fantasy Rankings Proves Panthers Made Huge Mistake With Steelers' Rico Dowdle

For a lot of reasons, the Carolina Panthers may regret letting Rico Dowdle walk in free agency. Losing the top rusher from one season is pretty much never ideal for any team, especially one that likes to run the ball.

Dowdle will face the Panthers this year, and he might tell them to buckle up. The Panthers still want to run the ball to help Bryce Young, but the backfield is decidedly less able to really control the game as it did in 2025.

But perhaps the biggest reasons, as PFF's latest RB rankings reveal, is that Dowdle is a fair bit better than anyone the Panthers have on the roster.

PFF rankings suggest Panthers will regret letting Rico Dowdle go

Carolina Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (30) rushes the ball against the Los Angeles Rams | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Panthers never seemed intent on re-signing Rico Dowdle. The door was open, but after a soft benching at the very end of the year and Dowdle's frustration with his results, the writing was on the wall.

Still, it leaves the Panthers in an unenviable situation. They're a run-first team that let the best runner go. Chuba Hubbard was excellent in 2024, but he was not so much in 2025. He dealt with some injuries, to be fair, but the truth is he took a step back.

The Panthers are counting on him returning to form and Jonathon Brooks being fully healthy after a second torn ACL to the same knee suffered within 13 months. There's a chance the sum of those two replaces Dowdle, but it's a big risk.

PFF ranks Dowdle as the 27th-best back in their latest fantasy rankings. Hubbard ranked 39th, and Brooks was 41st. In terms of tiers, Hubbard and Brooks are in tier seven. Dowdle is in tier six. Trevor Etienne is ranked 90th, for what that's worth.

Granted, having two roughly top-40 backs is probably a little better than having one top-30 back, because the Panthers likely would've had to move either Brooks or Hubbard to keep Dowdle. Neither move was plausible, though.

And perhaps inadvertently, the Panthers kind of doubled down on their mistake there by not signing anyone (aside from AJ Dillon, who does not move the needle and isn't even ranked). Several possible free agent replacements rank better than Hubbard and Brooks:

37: JK Dobbins
33: Tyler Allgeier
31: Rachaad White
18: Travis Etienne Jr.
8: Kenneth Walker

The Panthers were linked to some of those players but opted to pursue defensive upgrades. They might come to regret that, at least with regard to Dowdle and his exit.