Rico Dowdle emerged as the lead back with the Panthers during the 2025 season and posted his second straight 1,000-yard season, but he won’t be back in Carolina for the 2026 campaign.
Dowdle moved on to the Steelers as a free agent, which means that he also didn’t secure a clear path to the No. 1 running back job. Jaylen Warren is back for his fifth season in Pittsburgh and one of the offseason tasks in Pittsburgh is sorting out how they are going to divvy up the playing time in the backfield.
Dowdle said his approach to any competition will have an inward focus.
“We got two guys who can go out there and do the job at a high level,” Dowdle said, via Will Graves of the Associated Press. “The coaches will decide how that goes. And I just come out here and put my best foot forward each day and let the rest take care of itself.”
While Warren is the incumbent in Pittsburgh, Dowdle may have one thing working in his favor. His first 1,000-yard season came with the Cowboys in 2024 while playing for Mike McCarthy, who is now the head coach for the Steelers.
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