Who Should I Start? Ty Johnson or Rico Dowdle

Saturday, January 17, 3:15 PM

Buffalo Bills running back Ty Johnson (ankle) will be inactive when the Bills face the Broncos to kick off the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs on Saturday. Johnson, who missed the team's Wild Card win over the Jaguars with an ankle injury, was able to return to practice on Thursday in a limited capacity, but he'll miss at least one more game. Johnson has seen most of his work this season in the passing game, totaling 263 yards and two scores on his 24 receptions, but without him, the Bills' already depleted receiving core may struggle to find space against Denver's top-three passing defense. The Bills are expected to have Curtis Samuel (elbow) back for the first time since Week 11, but in the win against the Jaguars, Khalil Shakir led the team with 12 receptions, while no other Bills player topped three catches.

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.