After being shut down for most of this week's practices, running back Rico Dowdle has been medically cleared to play in the Carolina Panthers' week 10 match-up against the New Orleans Saints.
Per NFL.com, the 27-year-old RB will be able to play on Sunday after a week that saw him not participating in practice on Wednesday, limited on Thursday, and then a full practice on Friday. He has recently been hampered by a quadriceps injury, so Carolina was clearly cautious in how they handled the situation.
Dowdle, a 5'11", 215-pound product of the University of South Carolina, is in his fifth season in the NFL. He spent his first four years with the Dallas Cowboys and signed a one-year contract with the Panthers before the 2025 season.
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This season, Rico Dowdle has 735 yards on 131 attempts, a rate of 5.6 yards per carry. He's scored four touchdowns on the ground thus far. And he's done some damage in the passing game, chipping in 15 receptions for 132 yards and one touchdown.
"[We] want to be smart about it. We're counting on him this weekend," Carolina head coach Dave Canales told reporters on Wednesday, discussing why Dowdle was initially held out of practice. As he continues to emerge as an important part of what we're doing, we gotta make sure we get him to game day, make sure he's ready to go. And that'd be the plan."