The Dallas Cowboys have had their best offseason in years, but a big point of contention was letting running back Rico Dowdle leave for pennies.
Coming off a career year, it was speculated that Dowdle could fetch as much as $5 million per year on the open market. Dowdle played so well that many Cowboys fans wanted Jerry Jones to re-sign him during the season to prevent losing him in free agency.
Sure enough, Jones did not retain Dowdle. The former undrafted free agent inked a one-year pact with the Carolina Panthers for a measly $1.75 million guaranteed.
It just so happens that Dallas and Carolina will lock horns in the 2025 regular season, so the revenge game narrative practically writes itself. Following the NFL's schedule reveal on Wednesday night, we know Dowdle will face his former team in Week 6.
Rico Dowdle will make Cowboys pay for losing him in Week 6
While Chuba Hubbard is penciled in as Carolina's starting running back following his own breakout season, Dowdle is locked in as RB2.
It was recently learned that Panthers 2024 second-round pick Jonathon Brooks will miss the entire season as he recovers from a torn ACL. They drafted Georgia product Trevor Eitenne in the fourth round this year, but he is not a threat to Dowdle's workload.
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For whatever reason, the Cowboys signed veteran Miles Sanders instead of re-upping Dowdle, a player who had been with the franchise for five years after signing as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 2020.
Sanders arrives in Dallas with a chip on his shoulder after a hellish Panthers tenure and brings experience to a young backfield, but he was among the most efficient runners in the league last season and got leapfrogged on the depth chart by Hubbard.
To the Cowboys credit, they revamped their RB room in the draft with Texas speed demon Jaydon Blue in the fifth round and Clemson bulldozer Phil Mafah in the seventh round.
Both rookies should threaten for snaps from day one - Blue especially - but imagine if Dowdle was leading the charge instead of Sanders, who averaged a lowly 3.5 yards per carry the last two seasons.
The Cowboys will be favored to beat Carolina, but it would serve Jerry Jones right if Dowdle runs all over his defense in this matchup. It never made sense to let him leave and it could backfire.