Rico Dowdle News: In line for lead role

Dowdle is expected to start Sunday's game at Green Bay and take a majority of carries, with Chuba Hubbard still part of the offense in a lesser role, Joe Person of The Athletic reports.

The writing was on the wall Monday when Panthers coach Dave Canales told reporters, "We cannot ignore the fact that [Dowdle] has been exceptional." Canales also mentioned how much Hubbard has meant to the organization, which is perhaps a hint that Dowdle won't have strong job security even if he does take on much larger workloads in the short term. Dowdle and Hubbard largely alternated drives the past two weeks, with neither providing much fantasy production even though Dowdle's per-touch efficiency remained strong. Maintaining that efficiency Week 9 will be difficult, to say the least, as the Panthers are dealing with a slew of offensive line injuries while facing a top defense on the road.