Mike Trout homers for 1,000th career RBI (19)
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Panthers RB Rico Dowdle looks to prove he's worthy of being NFL starter after leaving Cowboys
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Panthers weren't necessary looking to add a starting-caliber running back in free agency after giving Chuba Hubbard a four-year, $33 million contract extension last November. They found one anyway. Coach Dave Canales said he's been "ecstatic" since the Panthers signed Rico Dowdle in March, giving the team added depth in the backfield with a second 1,000-yard rusher. In so doing, they've added a highly motivated player who's eager to prove that he's still worthy of being a No. 1 back — and being paid like one — after the Dallas Cowboys opted not to re-sign him. 'I definitely thought I would have had the opportunity to get a shot with the ones this year, but it didn't come down to that,' Dowdle said of his time on the free-agent market. Some running back-needy teams opted for the draft to fill their needs rather than sign the 27-year-old Dowdle. So he chose to bet on himself, agreeing to a one-year, $2.75 million contract with the Panthers that could pay him up to $6 million with performance incentives. Dowdle hopes that if all goes well he can parlay his success into a big contract next spring. In the meantime, he felt Carolina, with an improving offensive line led by highly paid guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, was the best fit for him. It also afforded him the opportunity to return to the Carolinas where he played high school football in Asheville, North Carolina, and college ball at South Carolina. 'Great to be home,' he said with a smile. Despite rushing for 1,079 yards and averaging 4.6 yards per carry and catching 39 passes for 249 yards and totaling five TDs in his first year as a starter, the Cowboys didn't express much interest in re-signing Dowdle despite a late-season surge that included three straight 100-yard rushing games. Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones instead drafted Jaydon Blue from Texas in the fifth round and signed veteran free agents Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, who was Hubbard's backup last season. 'To have two 1,000-yard backs in the same room and guys with experience, guys who can really do it all — can pass protect really well, catch the ball out of the backfield, I mean I was ecstatic," Canales said. "When we were kind of working through things (in free agency) and it starting looking like we were going to have a chance to get this guy, I couldn't have been more excited." Hubbard remains the starter in Carolina, coming off a career-high 1,195 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns in 2024 — despite sitting out the final two games. But Canales sees a role for the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Dowdle, although he was sparse on the details. Dowdle could have to compete for reps with fourth-round draft pick Trevor Etienne from Georgia, who has looked strong and fast in training camp. Carolina selected Texas' Jonathon Brooks in the second round in 2024, but he'll miss the entire season after reinjuring his ACL as a rookie. 'He's exactly what we're looking for out of our running backs,' Canales said of Dowdle. 'Our backs, they run the runs exactly the way they're supposed to be run — with discipline. And once they get past that first level they run with violence. (Dowdle) does those things.' Dowdle would love to parlay a big season into a big paycheck. But for now he said he's here to help the Panthers win. He's in a familiar position, having to prove himself all over — just as he had to do coming into the league as an undrafted rookie in 2020. 'Coming from the position of being undrafted and obviously having to make the roster every, every year, I always feel like I got something to prove," Dowdle said. 'And I will have something to prove until I get to where I wanna go.' Browns to visit The Panthers practiced Tuesday in a downpour and more rain is in the forecast for Wednesday's joint practice with the Cleveland Browns. Despite the weather, Canales said he expects practices to go on as expected with plenty of full-contact drills and live hitting. ___ AP NFL:
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
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7 NASCAR Cup Car Numbers Worth Retiring for All Time
Having your number retired is the ultimate honor in sports. It's the ultimate nod to what that number, and subsequently the athlete, meant to the sport. While individual teams in the major sports retire numbers almost to the point of diluting the honor, only the rarest of rare get their number retired by an entire league. Major League Baseball retired No. 42 in 1997 to honor pioneer Jackie Robinson. The National Hockey League in 2000 retired the No. 99 of Wayne Gretzky. Some numbers are a tough call because multiple drivers had success in the same car number. The No. 11, for example, found victory lane with Denny Hamlin (58 wins), Cale Yarborough (55 wins), Ned Jarrett (48 wins), Darrell Waltrip (43 wins). That No. 11 means different drivers to different fans... which in our mind disqualifies it from this particular list. Bobby Allison has a massive number of wins (85), but he never scored more than 25 wins with the same car number (12). He also drove the 22, 28, 2, 15, 88, 16, 24, 6, 29, 14, 09, 11, 40, 37, 49, 07, and 1. It's ways good to bave Allison on any NASCAR honor list, but hard to say there was ever a definitive Bobby Allison car number. Here's seven drivers whose success, association with a specific car number or pioneering impact on the sport are deserving of having their number retired:No. 43 - RIchard Petty Richard Petty was, and always will be, NASCAR's GOAT. No one will come close to 200 career wins and no one with any sense of NASCAR history can look at the No. 43 car in the Cup Series and not at least have a flashback to Petty. Petty is NASCAR's Babe Ruth, Tom Brady and Bill Russell. He'll always be the 3 - Dale Earnhardt No one should be allowed in the No. 3 car. That's Dale Earnhardt's ride, forever. Many fans (me, included) will never be comfortable seeing Austin Dillon—or anyone else, for that matter-—in the No. 3 car. Earnhardt was a seven-time champion, and his untimely death at the 2001 Daytona 500 will forever be etched in the minds of his fans. More than two decades later, the Intimidator is still in the top 10 in terms of driver merchandise 24 - Jeff Gordon No offense to William Byron, the current caretaker of the 24, but Jeff Gordon will always synonymous with the No. 24. Gordon's four Cup championships are fourth most in series history, and his 93 wins in the No. 24 checks in third. And maybe it would be appropriate to retire any future rainbow paint schemes in honor of NASCAR's Rainbow 21 - David Pearson Four-time Cup champion David Pearson, with 105 wins, is second on the all-time wins list and had 43 wins and his greatest moments in the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 in the 1970s. Pearson showed up for the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame announcement for the 2010 Hall Class only to be snubbed. Let's not snub the late Pearson and his most famous car number from this 34 - Wendell Scott Wendell Scott broke the color barrier in NASCAR, driving the No. 87 Chevy at Hub City Speedway in Spartanburg, S.C in 1961. Nearly the rest of Scott's career was spent in the 34 car, and he drove the 34 into victory lane at Jacksonville in 1964. The only other time Scott drove in Cup in a car outside the 34 was his in his final Cup race in 1973, where he drove the No. 5 in the National 500 at Charlotte. It would only be fitting to forever remember the 34 in honor of a true 48 - Jimmie Johnson Forever in the minds of man NASCAR fans, the 48 will be Jimmie Johnson and Lowe's. It was a car number and sponsorship that brought the majority of Johnson's 83 wins and record-tying seven championships. Sorry, current Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, that 48 belongs to Jimmie Johnson... and the 71 - Sara Christian Sara Christian, the first woman to start a NASCAR Cup Series race, finished 13th in the inaugural season championship in 1949. Her husband, Frank, finished in a tie for 26th. Christian is still the highest-finishing woman in a NASCAR Cup Race. She finished fifth at Heidelberg Raceway, near Pittsburgh, in 1949. Sara and Frank are the only couple honored by the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. How about NASCAR giving Sara a nod, too.
Yahoo
3 minutes ago
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Patriots CB Marcellas Dial suffers torn ACL at training camp
Patriots cornerback and core special teamer Marcellas Dial Jr. has suffered a season-ending injury. Dial was diagnosed with a torn ACL, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN. The 24-year-old Dial was carted off the practice field on Monday. Dial was a sixth-round pick of the Patriots last year out of South Carolina. As a rookie last season he played in all 17 games, with one start at cornerback and was one of New England's top special teams players, playing 83 percent of their special teams snaps.
