Last night kicked off the NFL season with the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles and their bitter rival, the Dallas Cowboys. However, a former Carolina Panthers running back may have been involved in the most impactful play of the game.
Cowboys running back Miles Sanders, who played for the Panthers from 2023 to 2024, was playing a revenge game against the team that drafted him, the Eagles. Sanders’ night was going well.
Midway through the third quarter, Sanders broke off a 49-yard run that looked like it was going to be a touchdown, but Eagles All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun hawked Sanders down from behind around the 10-yard line.
A few plays later, Sanders fumbled the ball in the red zone with the Cowboys having the opportunity to take the lead late in the third quarter. They wouldn’t score again. Sanders, having a rocky game, was not an unusual sight during his time as a Panther.
Sanders Underwhelmed in Carolina
During the 2023 offseason, Miles Sanders signed with the Panthers on a four-year, $25 million deal. Sanders, the previous season, 2022, was coming off a career year for the Eagles. Sanders, on 259 rushing attempts, had 1,269 yards and 11 touchdowns on his way to being a Pro Bowler.
However, Sanders ended his Eagles tenure on a low note. In Super Bowl LVII, Sanders had seven carries for 16 yards, and he fumbled one of his first touches of the game en route to the Eagles losing 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In Carolina, Sanders struggled to get going due to a combination of injuries and underwhelming performance. Over Sanders’ two seasons as a Panther, he rushed for 637 yards and three rushing touchdowns. He did, however, end his time as a Panther on a high note, racking up 116 all-purpose yards to go along with a receiving and game-winning rushing touchdown in a 44-38 overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons in the season finale.
Sanders, after signing with the Cowboys this offseason, didn’t want to reflect much on his time as a Panther. The former Pro Bowl running back told Tommy Yarrish of DallasCowboys.com he wanted to keep his time in Carolina in the past.
“These last two years, I don’t really have much to say,” Sanders said of time as a Panther. “I guess I’d say I handled the situation as best I could, there was a lot of things out of my control that I would not like to speak on and just keep it in house, so I’ll just keep it at that.“
While Sanders wants to keep his time with the Panthers in the past, the organization is happy moving forward with their current running backs.
Panthers are Happy with Current RB Room
Chuba Hubbard had taken Miles Sanders‘ starting running back role during the 2024 season, and he made the most of his carries.
Hubbard put up a career year, rushing for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns on 4.8 yards per carry. Also, his dual-threat ability was on display, with him tallying 43 receptions.
The Panthers bolstered their running back room by adding former Cowboy Rico Dowdle, who rushed for 1,079 yards last season, and drafting Trevor Etienne out of Georgia in the fourth round of this draft.
Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik is hoping the team will have a three-headed monster at running back and provide Hubbard with some relief, as he told Jeff Hawkins of SportsCasting.
“The benefit from having all three is we don’t need to run Chuba dry early,” Idzik said. “We have two good runners with him. So, it’s a long season (and) keeping them fresh and keeping them running full speed, we don’t lose a tick when one goes in versus the other.”
Just as Miles Sanders has moved on, so have the Panthers, but they are hoping their running backs don’t have a repeat of Sanders’ costly turnover when they play the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Panthers Former $25 Million RB Makes Costly Turnover in Cowboys Loss