Kenneth Gainwell walking away in free agency was hard to see, but the Pittsburgh Steelers wasted no time finding another veteran to round out the room alongside Jaylen Warren and Kaleb Johnson. Rico Dowdle makes a ton of sense having spent five seasons in Dallas under Mike McCarthy. It was with the Cowboys that Dowdle grew from an undrafted free agent to a 1,000-yard runner, earning him a second contract with the Carolina Panthers.
Now, he is expected to sign with the Steelers at the start of the new league year on a two-year, $12.25 million contract.
Coming out of South Carolina, Dowdle measured in at 5112, 213 pounds with a 38-inch vertical and a 4.54-second 40-yard dash. He was most recently listed on the Panthers’ roster at 215 pounds.
In six seasons, including a 2021 season completely lost to a hip injury, Dowdle appeared in 69 games with 26 starts. He’s racked up 2,540 yards on 567 carries (4.5 avg.) and 10 TDs. He also has another 690 yards and six TDs on 95 receptions. The vast majority of that production came over the last two seasons, topping 1,300 yards from scrimmage on both occasions.
Since becoming a full-time starter, Dowdle has fumbled five times over the last two seasons. He also dropped seven passes over the last three seasons for a 6.7 career drop rate.
Beyond his snaps in the backfield, both the Cowboys and Panthers used him in the slot as a receiver at times. He has 51 snaps there over the last three seasons.
Let’s hop into the tape to see what Rico Dowdle can bring to the Steelers over the next two seasons.
He isn’t quite as committed to patience as Le’Veon Bell was, but Dowdle has some of that in his game where he stutter steps behind the line to allow blocks to develop before bursting through. A lot of runners push up too close to the blocks when doing that to take away options, but Dowdle hangs back, maps out his course, and then bursts through holes. He also has some nice jump cuts and lateral agility to quickly switch gaps or bounce outside when needed.
Here’s another look at his lateral agility, which he uses effectively to influence defenders and find cutback lanes.
Between the tackles, his run style is definitely more based on agility and finesse than running people over. Here he does a nice job manipulating his body to get skinny through the hole at the second level for extra yards.
While he won’t often run over people, he certainly has the contact balance and leg drive to break arm tackles. He breaks several here for a big gain.
Dowdle doesn’t really have a third gear with elite long speed, but he gets up to his top speed quickly, which is plenty sufficient to generate explosive plays. Dowdle had 37 explosive plays in each of the last two seasons.
He isn’t necessarily going to run crisp breaking routes, but he can do damage on swing and screen passes. He catches the ball well for the most part and transitions to a runner quickly with great vision and burst.
Dowdle’s pass blocking isn’t on the level of Warren’s (few are), but he still holds his own in that area. He sometimes has a bit of trouble fitting into the blocks and doesn’t square himself up properly, but the willingness and power are all there.
It ultimately doesn’t matter that much, but this play speaks to the type of player he is. It shows his undrafted mentality. And I’m sure Steelers fans will enjoy it after watching guys like Diontae Johnson and George Pickens slack in similar scenarios. Dowdle runs harder than anybody on the field to make this tackle after the interception. He’s a high-effort player. He even makes Minkah Fitzpatrick look slow.
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