{"id":797369,"date":"2026-03-07T01:32:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/797369\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T01:32:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T01:32:49","slug":"espn-names-the-player-the-carolina-panthers-are-most-likely-to-lose-to-free-agency-this-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/797369\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN names the player the Carolina Panthers are most likely to lose to free agency this offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Carolina Panthers<\/a> are expected to make some key moves this offseason, but they’ll have to be creative in creating some cap space<\/a> so those moves can happen.<\/p>\n

That means some tough decisions will need to be made on players that are set to be free agents when the new league year begins next week.<\/p>\n

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One decision that likely won\u2019t be difficult is letting running back Rico Dowdle walk in free agency.<\/p>\n

ESPN says Rico Dowdle is the Panthers free agent most likely on the move this offseason<\/p>\n

Dowdle had one of the best seasons of his career in 2025, rushing for 1,076 yards and six touchdowns while catching 39 passes for a career high 297 yards.<\/p>\n

The former South Carolina standout, however, is unlikely to return to Charlotte in 2026.<\/p>\n

“He wasn’t happy with his decline in reps late in a season in which he led Carolina in rushing (1,076 yards),” wrote ESPN’s David Newton<\/a>. “It is unlikely that Dowdle returns because Chuba Hubbard is locked in with a significant four-year deal that he signed in 2024, and 2024 second-round pick Jonathon Brooks is expected back from an ACL injury.”<\/p>\n

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Dowdle said after the season ended that his reduction in carries will impact his free agency decision.<\/p>\n

“That definitely is a factor,” said Dowdle<\/a>. “There’s options for me. I just want to be a guy who can go out there and just get the bulk [of the carries].”<\/p>\n

Dowdle had a couple of massive games for the Panthers in 2025 — including 206 rushing yards against the Miami Dolphins<\/a> and 186 rushing yards against the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> in back to back weeks — but his usage was inconsistent near the end of the season (he received just five carries in Carolina’s playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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As a result, it appears Dowdle will be playing elsewhere in 2026.<\/p>\n

Related: ESPN names the Panthers as the best free agent fit for a player that would instantly bring a much-needed edge to Carolina<\/a><\/p>\n

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This story was originally published by A to Z Sports<\/a> on Mar 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL<\/a> section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Carolina Panthers are expected to make some key moves this offseason, but they’ll have to be creative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,1751,257,12,7,41516,58,251,6,236,7152,6746],"class_list":{"0":"post-797369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-chuba-hubbard","12":"tag-dallas-cowboys","13":"tag-espn","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-free-agency-decision","16":"tag-los-angeles-rams","17":"tag-miami-dolphins","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-panthers","20":"tag-rico-dowdle","21":"tag-rushing-yards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116185321024484365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}