The drag coefficient (CD) of a sphere freely rolling without slipping on a rough plane is presented in this study. Increasing panel roughness has been found to increase CD, although lubrication theory predicts that the larger gap imposed by the rougher panel should yield a smaller drag. We propose that this increase in drag is due to the effects of rolling resistance, which increases with panel roughness. The total drag on a sphere is decomposed into fluid drag and drag due to rolling resistance, where the fluid drag is predicted using a combined analytical–numerical approach. It is shown that rolling resistance can be modeled as a resistive torque opposing the sphere motion, generated by the offset contact normal force from the sphere center plane. This coefficient of rolling resistance (μr) can be predicted using the root mean square roughness (Rq) of the panel. Additionally, μr is observed to increase with sphere down-slope velocity and an empirical relationship between μr, Rq, and non-dimensional velocity (U∗) is given. A comparison of the drag predicted by the proposed model with measured data indicates good agreement for all the four panels considered. Consistent with previous literature, a non-linear relationship between μr, Rq, and U∗ is proposed. Although increasing panel roughness leads to a smaller fluid drag due to the larger gap imposed by rougher panels, the drag due to rolling resistance increases more rapidly. This leads to an increase in total drag with increase in the panel roughness. Additionally, increasing panel roughness is observed to have a significant effect on the sphere wake, leading to irregular wake shedding and increase in the Strouhal number.