Who Should I Start? Rico Dowdle or Elijah Mitchell

Friday, January 30, 12:35 PM

ESPN's David Newton writes that unless Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle wants to "return at a bargain price," he "appears headed to this third team in three seasons." General manager Dan Morgan said he had a good meeting with Dowdle after the season, but Dowdle was unhappy with the way the year ended -- he had seven carries for 10 yards in the Week 18 regular-season finale and only five carries for nine yards in the Wild-Card loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The 27-year-old has produced back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and was Carolina's leading rusher (1,076 yards), but he'd likely be in a committee backfield again with Chuba Hubbard if he were to re-sign. Hubbard is locked in through the 2028 campaign on a four-year, $33.2 million deal he signed in 2024. "I just want to be a guy who can go out there and just get the bulk [of the carries]," Dowdle said.

Tuesday, December 23, 11:37 PM

The New England Patriots signed veteran free-agent running back Elijah Mitchell to their practice squad on Tuesday, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Mitchell quickly latches on with another team after the Kansas City Chiefs waived him last weekend. Patriots rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson suffered a concussion in Sunday night's win over the Baltimore Ravens and is in danger of missing the Week 17 game against the New York Jets, so the Pats will bring in Mitchell to give the team more RB depth at the end of the regular season. If Henderson doesn't clear the league's concussion protocol by this Sunday, Mitchell could be elevated to the active 53-man roster to serve as the RB3 behind Rhamondre Stevenson and D'Ernest Johnson. Unless Stevenson also misses time with an injury, Mitchell is unlikely to become a major contributor in New England's offense. He was active for just one game with KC this year and didn't have a single rushing attempt.