CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle said he isn’t concerned about if he’ll start or who’ll see the bulk of the carries on Sunday against the New York Jets.
He understands the situation.
Dowdle is coming off two career games in which he racked up 389 yards on the ground and 473 yards from scrimmage. But Chuba Hubbard is set to return this week from a calf injury after missing two games.
Hubbard has been the team's starting running back the past two seasons. He earned a $33 million contract after rushing for nearly 1,200 yards and 10 TDs in 2024.
Panthers coach Dave Canales hasn't said who is going to start this weekend. But he made it clear Dowdle will have a chance to have a big impact as the Panthers (3-3) look to earn their first road win this season.
“I think he’s earned everything that he’s done in the last two weeks,” Canales said of Dowdle. “He’s earned the right to help this team, and he will. We’ll find a way to do that. How we do that specifically, I don’t wanna really share those details of it.”
Dowdle shrugged off talk of who'll be the primary ball carrier.
“It’s all up to the coaches about what goes on,” Dowdle said. "Obviously Chuba's been here and he’s got his contract and things like that, and it’s been his team from the jump, so you got to just take all that into account for sure."
Dowdle ran for 23 times for 206 yards against the Miami Dolphins, then dominated his former team, the Dallas Cowboys, for 183 yards on the ground on 30 carries.
Dowdle acknowledged there's definitely something to be said about the importance of a running back getting into a rhythm as the game goes on, but added that he doesn't think that will be an issue in Carolina. He was quick to point out that he cramped up in the fourth quarter of the past two home games, so having others who can handle the load will help.
Trevor Etienne has been his primary backup the past two games, although DeeJay Dallas has seen time, too.
“The way I think we’ll do it, I don’t think it’ll be hard to get into a rhythm at all, especially the way those guys blocking up front," Dowdle said.
Both running backs have been in this situation before.
Hubbard found himself in a split-back system in 2022 in Carolina when he shared reps with D'Onta Foreman, while Dowdle found himself splitting carries with Ezekiel Elliott early last season with the Cowboys.
Hubbard knows the running-back playing time is clearly the topic of the week connected to the team, but he's not concerning himself too much with how things will shake out against the Jets, who are ranked 23rd in the league in run defense, allowing 130 yards per game.
The two share a friendship, and Hubbard has regularly been the first one to congratulate Dowdle on the sideline when he comes off the field following a big run.
“Rico has done an amazing job,” Hubbard said. “He’s showing his best with the opportunity that he has been given. I know he will do that over and over again this season.”
As for his own desire to recapture the starting job, Hubbard said his focus is on what is best for the team.
“I mean in all honesty, all my career, all I know is work, work, work,” Hubbard said. “That’s what I pride myself on regardless of the situation that’s going on around me. I control what I control. Obviously the biggest thing for me is winning games and however that looks and whatever that takes, I’m all in.”
Notes: Outside linebacker Pat Jones will miss the remainder of the season with a lower back injury, Canales said. Jones played the entire game on Sunday against the Cowboys, but started to feel pain the following day and went to see the medical staff. Canales would not say who'll start in Jones' spot moving forward.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle carries the ball in the second half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Elected to baseball's Hall of Fame more than 17 years after his final game, Jeff Kent couldn't control his emotions.
“Absolutely unprepared. Emotionally unstable,” he said after Sunday's vote announcement. “Thoughts are so far clouded."
Kent received 14 of 16 votes from the contemporary era committee, two more than the 12 ballots needed for the 75% minimum. Steroids-tainted stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were among seven players who fell short once again.
Kent will be inducted in Cooperstown, New York, on July 26 along with anyone chosen by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose balloting will be announced on Jan. 20.
“I hugged my wife after the the phone call had come in," Kent said, his voice cracking, “and I told her that a lot of the game had come rushing back to me at that moment. Similar to my retirement speech, my farewell speech that I did in LA, it reminds me of the 'no crying in baseball.' Well, I was bawling when I left the game because all that emotion just overcomes you.”
A five-time All-Star second baseman, Kent hit .290 with 377 homers and 1,518 RBIs over 17 seasons with Toronto (1992), the New York Mets (1992-96), Cleveland (1996), San Francisco (1997-2002), Houston (2003-04) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2005-08).
His 351 home runs as a second baseman are the most by a player at that position. Kent’s most productive seasons were with the Giants, joined in the lineup by the record-setting Bonds.
"I think I’ve turned the double play better than anybody in the game during my era," Kent said.
Carlos Delgado received nine votes, followed by Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy with six each. Bonds, Clemens, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela each received fewer than five votes and can't appear on the ballot again until 2031.
Bonds and Clemens also fell short in 2022 in their 10th and final appearances on the BBWAA ballot. Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and Clemens maintains he never used PEDs.
“Barry was a good teammate of mine. He was a guy that I motivated and pushed,” Kent said. “We knocked heads a little bit. He was a guy that motivated me at times, in frustration and love, at times both. ... If you’re talking about moral code and all that, I’m not a voter and I’m trying to stay away from all of that the best I can because I don’t, I really don’t have an opinion.”
Kent's relationship with the Giants became strained when he broke a bone in his left wrist during spring training in 2002. Kent told team athletic trainer Stan Conte he got hurt while washing his truck the previous day, but Giants general manager Brian Sabean said three weeks later “there’s mounting evidence from all sorts of eyewitnesses that says he fell off a motorcycle popping wheelies.”
“That'll die with me,” Kent said Monday. “But what you think happened, there’s some truth to it and what did happen, what I said happened, there’s some truth to that.”
Kent also scuffled with Bonds in the dugout that June 25 during a game in San Diego.
Kent received 15.2% in his first BBWAA appearance in 2014 and a high of 46.5% in the last of his 10 times on the ballot in 2023.
“The moments seemed to pass by in not utter disappointment but just disappointment, frustration a little bit that I wasn’t better recognized,” Kent said.
Kent was drafted by Toronto and four months after his debut was traded to the Mets for David Cone, who helped the Blue Jays win the World Series.
“The rap for me probably started out in the wrong direction in New York,” Kent said. “There was this perception when I left New York and came to the West Coast that 'he wasn't a good middle infielder,' and that was so false.”
His biggest regret is not winning a World Series.
“I missed out on the one opportunity of the most fun ever, which is sitting on the floor in the locker room after you just won the last game of the season,” he said. "You’re done throwing the Champagne on everybody, you’re done bragging about everything, you’re done doing the interviews and you’re just filthy dirty and wet, and you just sit on the floor and have this moment of completeness."
The Hall in 2022 restructured its veterans committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary era from 1980 on, as well as the classic era. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.
Each committee meets every three years. Contemporary managers, executives and umpires will be considered in December 2026, classic era candidates in December 2027 and contemporary era players again in December 2028.
Under a change announced by the Hall last March, candidates who received fewer than five votes are not eligible for that committee’s ballot during the next three-year cycle. A candidate who is dropped, later reappears on a ballot and again receives fewer than five votes would be barred from future ballot appearances.
The December 2027 vote is the first chance for Pete Rose to appear on a Hall ballot after baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred decided in May that Rose’s permanent suspension ended with his death in September 2024. The Hall prohibits anyone on the permanent ineligible list from appearing on a ballot.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Jeff Kent poses for photos after the announcement at a news conference that he was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame during the Major League baseball winter meetings, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Jeff Kent answers questions after the announcement at a news conference that he was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame during the Major League baseball winter meetings, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
FILE - San Francisco Giants Livan Hernandez, left, and Jeff Kent react after the Anaheim Angels Garret Anderson hit a three run RBI double in the third inning during game 7 of the World Series in Anaheim, Calif., on Oct. 27, 2002. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers Jeff Kent hits a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants in the fourth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sept. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
