Talk to most Panthers fans before the season and they’d probably be happy to hear their team was .500 in late October. It’s rarely been pretty for Carolina in 2025, amidst mounting injuries, defensive deficiencies, and often comical inconsistency — but it’s still a darn good year for a team that hasn’t been 4-4 since Halloween of 2021.
Nothing went right for the Panthers in Week 8 against the Bills, as one might expect. An atrocious afternoon without Bryce Young which saw a statuesque Andy Dalton struggle to do anything through the air, while the defense allowed James Cook to obliterate them on the ground, en route to over 200 rushing yards. There is nothing this team could have done to stop the bleeding — well, except the one thing they’re weren’t willing to do.
Running back Chuba Hubbard has gone from franchise cornerstone to liability in a matter of weeks. Coming off a 1,195 yard rushing season in 2024, the Panthers rewarded the back with a $33.2M extension to keep him in Charlotte. Hubbard struggled to open 2025, but so did the entire team. This made the lack of production understandable, and largely masked by the other myriad issues the team had. When Hubbard went down due to injury things got very complicated, because Rico Dowdle exploded.
Dowdle was signed in free agency to a one-year deal, largely expected to be little more than a seven or eight carry change of pace back, instead he entered the starting lineup and became everything the Panthers offense had been missing with Hubbard carrying the ball. He was explosive through the line of scrimmage, was a better checkdown receiver for Bryce Young, and had a command of the game in a way Hubbard didn’t early in the season.
This was both a massive boon to Carolina, and a looming problem when Hubbard eventually returned from injury. Here was Chuba, their highly-paid presumptive feature back struggling, and the the backup who was too good to ignore. To complicate matters further, head coach Dave Canales strongly prescribes to the coaching adage that a player doesn’t lose their spot to injury — yet for the first time his team was winning.
It’s now been two weeks since Hubbard returned from injury, and it’s been a mess. In back-to-back games Hubbard has carried the ball a total of 26 times for 65 yards, an abysmal yards-per-attempt of 2.5. Meanwhile in these same games Dowdle had 25 carries for 133 yards, or 5.32 YPA. Quite literally twice the performance of Hubbard, Dowdle has been resigned to a dual-back role, watching from the bench as the Panthers falter.
“Chuba Hubbard has meant a lot to this team. We wanted to give him an opportunity following his calf injury. But we can’t ignore the fact that Rico has been exceptional.”
The switch needs to happen right now. This should be a case where Dowdle is the feature back, and Hubbard resigned to short-yardage assignments at the very least. Moreover, it might be time for the Panthers to think about trying to trade Hubbard at the deadline, giving him an opportunity to get more carries elsewhere.
There are numerous places where Hubbard can thrive behind a healthy offensive line. That’s the biggest issue right now for him. What Dowdle brings to the table is more experience and vision to squeeze through narrower gaps, as opposed to Hubbard’s style which requires better, established lead blocking. Moreover, the Panthers already have a stable of running backs they’re building for the future with rookie Trevor Etienne averaging 4.8 yards per carry in limited opportunities, and there still being a faint glimmer of hope that 2024 2nd round pick Jonathan Brooks could return to football after this year.
In a perfect world the Panthers would have time to let this unfold. Latitude to allow Hubbard to find his form once more. Time isn’t something Carolina has any more. At some point this team has to do whatever it takes to give themselves the best chance to win to appease fans who have had their patience worn thin after years of failure, and that requires being more cut throat than they probably want to be. There is no time left to “do right” by players, no matter how important they’ve been in the past.
It’s time for the Panthers to start acting like winners if they hope to become one.
