Why Cowboys let Rico Dowdle leave for Panthers as a free agent

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Why Cowboys let Rico Dowdle leave for Panthers as a free agent originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

When Rico Dowdle left the Dallas Cowboys for the Carolina Panthers, you would've figured the Cowboys still had a better chance of making the postseason.

That's no longer the case. On Saturday, the Panthers are win-and-in, while the Cowboys were already eliminated from the postseason a couple weeks ago.

Dowdle has been an over-expectation reason why the Panthers are in this position.

He came to town to back up Chuba Hubbard. All he's done is put up 1,343 yards from scrimmage entering Week 18.

The Cowboys got solid production this season from Javonte Williams, but losing Dowdle was letting a guy leave who had just run for 1,000 yards. Dowdle's production this season certainly makes his 2024 output seem a lot less like a fluke, but he's no longer with the Cowboys, and that's been their loss.

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Why did the Cowboys let Rico Dowdle leave for the Panthers?

The Cowboys seemingly felt Dowdle couldn't repeat his 2024 production.

Last season, he carried the ball 235 times for 1,079 yards, a 4.6 yards per carry average. He also caught 39 passes for 249 yards. In total, Dowdle scored five touchdowns.

He had only run for 385 career yards dating to his rookie season in 2020, so it was a massive breakout.

And so, when the time came, the Cowboys let Dowdle leave in free agency.

Dowdle signed a one-year contract with Carolina for $6.25 million (although only $2.75 million in base value) to be Chuba Hubbard's backup. Javonte Williams came to Dallas for one year and a base value of $3 million (and the Cowboys also added Miles Sanders and rookie Jaydon Blue).

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On paper, then, Dowdle and Williams worked out to be about a wash in the base value of their contracts.

If Dowdle gets seven scrimmage yards against the Buccaneers in Week 18, he'll activate a $1 million contract incentive for reaching 1,350 yards from scrimmage, a total not many would've seen coming.

Dallas clearly didn't. If the Cowboys had known Dowdle would do this, they almost surely wouldn't have let him leave.