Carolina Panthers add former Eagles running back after Rico Dowdle’s exit
The Carolina Panthers have added another running back.
AJ Dillon, the bruising runner who spent 2025 with the Philadelphia Eagles, has signed with the Panthers on a one-year deal, a league source confirmed to The Charlotte Observer on Wednesday. Jordan Schultz was the first to report the transaction.
Dillon posted to X, formerly Twitter, shortly after the news broke.
“#KeepPounding,” Dillon wrote. “Let’s goooo!!!!”
The move by the Panthers fortifies the team’s running back room. Dillon joins a group that includes starting running back Chuba Hubbard and last year’s draft pick Trevor Etienne, who got a bulk of his touches as a returner on special teams. It also includes Jonathon Brooks, who missed all of 2025 after tearing his ACL in his rookie season; Brooks has only played in three NFL games in two seasons.
Dillon’s arrival comes a few days after the departure of Rico Dowdle from the Carolina franchise. Dowdle, who earned his second-consecutive 1,000-rushing-yard season in Carolina in 2025, signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this month after testing out his market as an unrestricted free agent.
AJ Dillon’s career so far
Dillon, who turns 28 in May, finished 2025 with seven games played, running for 60 yards on only 12 carries. That was the result of a one-year deal with Philadelphia; he missed the 2024 season with a neck injury.
Prior to 2024, Dillon was quite productive. The 6-foot, 247-pound running back was a second-round draft pick out of Boston College for the Green Bay Packers in 2020, and in four seasons there, he recorded 2,497 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns in 63 games played — which included three playoff games, per Pro Football Reference. He also added 87 catches for 776 yards in that span.
Dillon’s best year was his second, when he got a heavier workload in a super-charged Packers offense even if he only started two games behind Aaron Jones. That year, in 2021, marked his only year with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage with 1,141.
What his Panthers’ role could be
Assuming Dillon will be a plug-and-play replacement for Dowdle might be a bit presumptive. Dowdle, after all, was coming off a great year with the Dallas Cowboys before arriving in Charlotte and had no major injury history.
That said, one place Dillon could immediately elevate the Panthers’ rushing offense is in short-yardage situations. The Panthers struggled at times in this area in 2025; they even put in a package for tight end Mitchell Evans — a former high school quarterback used to taking snaps under center — to complete a QB sneak. Evans was successful in his only QB sneak attempt in 2025.
This is the second player from the Eagles the Panthers added from free agency this month. Carolina also signed outside linebacker and premier pass rusher Jaelan Phillips to a four-year, $120 million deal after a stalwart second-half of 2025 in Philadelphia.
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 1:58 PM.
