Is this what you mean?
(sample_df <- data.frame(col1 = letters[1:5],
col2 = rnorm(5),
col3 = rnorm(5)))
#> col1 col2 col3
#> 1 a -1.1516010 0.04966653
#> 2 b 0.4765599 2.10323658
#> 3 c 0.8362574 -1.45946950
#> 4 d 0.1447962 -0.37182843
#> 5 e 0.2714111 0.10338340
rownames(sample_df) <- sample_df$col1
sample_df[,-1]
#> col2 col3
#> a -1.1516010 0.04966653
#> b 0.4765599 2.10323658
#> c 0.8362574 -1.45946950
#> d 0.1447962 -0.37182843
#> e 0.2714111 0.10338340
Created on 2020-10-12 by the reprex package (v0.3.0)
If you need more specific help, please provide a proper REPRoducible EXample (reprex) illustrating your issue.