If they trade Dowdle…

[TylerDurden]

I feel bad for Chuba and bad for thinking it, but i’ve started to wonder if maybe he was as good as he appeared to be because we had no other good options.  You know?  Slow-and-steady-wins-the-race-type-thing?  Because the poo we’ve seen the last two weeks is horrible.  I saw someone tweet earlier that the current alternating series strategy limits both from their strengths - Rico’s fast, explosive hard runs, and Chuba’s ability to churn until he gains momentum.  I just don’t fuging understand what Canales is doing.

[kungfoodude]

3 minutes ago, strato said:

That has to be water under the bridge at this point. Just hope they learn from it. 
I have always said I think that was maybe a mandated thing. Not specifically take him but you help Bryce at all costs, priority number one we can fix other poo later. 
But that doesn’t matter anymore either. 

We will see if it matters. Especially if Bryce sticks around for several years. 

It may always be "help Bryce at all costs."

[flagfootballcoach28]

Sucks we can’t trade Chuba. Nobody wants an average rb on a horrible contract. 

Edited October 27, 2025 by flagfootballcoach28

[CPF4LIFE]

3 hours ago, TD alt said:

It would be just another signal of profound incompetence: a can't see the forest for the trees type of thing. But, then again, that's what happens when you can't see the forest for the trees. There was really no need to pay Chuba all that money when backs like Dowdle were on the market in the first place. I've always said that Chuba is better than many thought, but his specialty (if you will) is taking what the defense gives you, it was never really about being dynamic enough to be paid a big contract. We overpaid him in my opinion.

We paid chuba because he was the catalyst for the offense once bryce came back from the benching. He needs a run game to succeed and chuba was the guy last year like Rico is this year to help. It was all about stability. No different then us overpaying for a o line to help bryce. 

All these moves didnt sound dumb a first but after time goes by they start getting put under a microscope. 

[strato]

2 minutes ago, flagfootballcoach28 said:

Sucks we can’t trade Chuba. Nobody wants an average rb on a horrible contract. 

There are ways to deal with the contract and some team in need may not be able to be picky. He hasn’t looked that good this year but he has produced in the past, pretty consistently. 

After today I wonder if we could trade him for a guard with a similar contract or something. 

[strato]

1 minute ago, CPF4LIFE said:

We paid chuba because he was the catalyst for the offense once bryce came back from the benching. He needs a run game to succeed and chuba was the guy last year like Rico is this year to help. It was all about stability. No different then us overpaying for a o line to help bryce. 

All these moves didnt sound dumb a first but after time goes by they start getting put under a microscope. 

It is just like if we brought a QB in and he made Bryce look like he should be demoted. 

[TD alt]

5 minutes ago, CPF4LIFE said:

We paid chuba because he was the catalyst for the offense once bryce came back from the benching. He needs a run game to succeed and chuba was the guy last year like Rico is this year to help. It was all about stability. No different then us overpaying for a o line to help bryce. 

All these moves didnt sound dumb a first but after time goes by they start getting put under a microscope. 

I mean, that sounds good. I will say that I kind of cringe when people say we overpaid for for an O-line because if you want the best players, or even quality players on the O-line, you're going to have to pay. They were proven players, one arguably the best at his position in football, so you're going to back up the Brinks truck. I don't see it as overpaying as much as I see it shifting your priorities in light of your situation and market conditions. 

Now with an RB, those generally are easier to get and easier to replace, especially if you have a good O-line. We could've let Chuba walk and still kept rolling a lot easier than continuing to roll the dice on backups starting on the O-line. I can't even remember who was available, but I'd bet that there was someone available who could replace Chuba's production.

That being said, we've been told in this thread that Chuba's contract was structured in a way that facilitates minimal pain if we decide to move on from him. If that's so, then it was smart and someone in the FO had a little foresight (and probably understands the PR side of things, as well as the pure numbers side). 

[raleigh-panther]

I stopped watching after the first series in the second half because losing to better teams  is one thing, but blowouts? 

.and those blowouts happen far too often …they are becoming his MO as HC against better teams 

Against the 31st run defense in the league,   he came out throwing….who didn’t know that was going to happen.

   Throwing against a team that was ranked 31st against the run is mind boggling when the Panthers strength is running the ball   Add to it, the Bills are excellent against the pass 

His personnel packages are totally predictable  (Horn)   where were the TEs today…can they only run two types of patterns to the receivers? 

he makes no adjustments for what he sees on the field 

.He appears to have  zero game day control or communication with Evero.  

Canales single handedly neutered  a player that had 400 plus yards in 2 games ….that takes some real genius there.  

I read he was ‘researching’ how to use 2 running backs effectively

i mean, for  fug sake, are you kidding me.  Hand the ball to Rico. When he gets tired, bring in Hubbard.  This is not hard 

I feel sorry for the Panthers fans who  sat through that today  

 

Edited October 27, 2025 by raleigh-panther

[hepcat]

8 hours ago, strato said:

There are ways to deal with the contract and some team in need may not be able to be picky. He hasn’t looked that good this year but he has produced in the past, pretty consistently. 

After today I wonder if we could trade him for a guard with a similar contract or something. 

I think Chuba felt pressured to return from injury maybe sooner than he wanted to make sure he didn’t lose his job 

[kungfoodude]

9 hours ago, strato said:

There are ways to deal with the contract and some team in need may not be able to be picky. He hasn’t looked that good this year but he has produced in the past, pretty consistently. 

After today I wonder if we could trade him for a guard with a similar contract or something. 

His contract isn't that bad. We can get out after 2026 and before the cap hits go up substantially.

[Waldo]

Brooks isn't anything worth putting hope into at this point, that dude can'tbe relyed on until he can stay healthy for any period of time. If that is your answer then you have already failed.

If they trade Rico and Hubbard misses any more time then the wheels would come off worse than yesterday. They need him and DC needs to figure it out. Play Rico and spell him with Hubbard. If Hubbard doesn't like it then he can carry that chip into his runs. This team goes as well as it's running and it needs a ridiculous amount at that to carry the QB play and spell the D. Everything was exposed yesterday when they got hit in the mouth from the opponents run game. That's what they need to do to other teams if they want any amount of success the rest of the season.

 

[DaveThePanther2008]

They might as well trade him.  Canales is being stubborn and not allowing Rico to do his thing.  It's the same reason he left Dallas.  

Someone needs to smack the crap out of Canales and get him to realize Rico is #1 not 1a or 1b. 

[strato]

35 minutes ago, hepcat said:

I think Chuba felt pressured to return from injury maybe sooner than he wanted to make sure he didn’t lose his job 

I said that too, elsewhere - last week and yesterday when it came up about maybe he wasn’t 100% because he didn’t look that good. 
I don’t know how you watch Rico dominating two consecutive weeks and don’t be scared you are getting Wally Pipped. 

[cmichd08]

14 hours ago, toldozer said:

They aren't trading him unless it's for a 3rd or higher

Well they better sign him to a decent deal or he walks this year, and we get nothing for him. Actually they could get the same for Chuba and let it be known that Dowdle is our #1 back. I like him but I doubt he will be here next year.