Who Should I Start? Rico Dowdle or Isaiah Spiller

Saturday, January 3, 10:02 AM

Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle (toe) does not have an injury designation heading into the team's week 18 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dowdle appears to be in a 60-40 timeshare with fellow running back Chuba Hubbard, with the latter seeing the vast majority of third downs over the past three games. The Panthers hosted the Buccaneers in Week 16, and Dowdle was held to just 29 yards from nine rushing attempts, but did earn 14 receiving yards from his four receptions off six targets. Even though Dowdle has been absent on nearly every third down over the last two games, he still managed to earn more targets and run six more routes each game than Hubbard. Dowdle profiles as a low-end RB2 against a middle-of-the-road Buccaneers run defense in the 2025 regular season finale.

Friday, April 25, 5:42 PM

The Las Vegas Raiders waived running back Isaiah Spiller, wide receiver Ramel Keyton, cornerback M.J. Devonshire, defensive tackle Tyler Manoa and linebackers Kana'i Mauga and Jackson Mitchell before the start of Round 2 of the 2025 NFL draft on Friday. Spiller, the former fourth-rounder by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2022 out of Texas A&M, is by far the biggest name on this list of cuts for the Raiders. The 23-year-old didn't see the field at all in 2024 and will now hit the open market after the Raiders pulled the trigger and took Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty at No. 6 overall in the first round on Thursday evening. In his two seasons with the Chargers in 2022 and 2023, Spiller had only 55 rushing attempts for 137 yards (2.5 yards per carry) and no touchdowns. He added nine receptions for 47 yards through the air. Spiller will now look to latch on with another team as RB depth.