![\"Rico](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2290840180_7157e6.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rico Dowdle left Week 2 versus the New England Patriots because of a toe injury.<\/p>\n
The Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> have major problems on offense. Acquiring one player on the trade market isn\u2019t going to fix everything or even half of what went wrong with the unit in Week 2 versus the New England Patriots<\/a>.<\/p>\n But adding a new running back would provide depth for the Steelers after the team lost Rico Dowdle<\/a> to injury on Sunday.<\/p>\n Bleacher Report\u2019s Moe Morton released a list of five players who could be bargain trade targets to replace injured players from Week 2. Morton identified New York Giants<\/a> running back Tyrone Tracy Jr.<\/a> a target for the Steelers.<\/p>\n \u201cPittsburgh Steelers running back Rico Dowdle exited early in Week 2 because of a toe injury. He\u2019s been inefficient in the Steelers\u2019 stagnant offense, averaging just 2.5 yards per carry,\u201d wrote Morton<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Steelers haven\u2019t featured Jaylen Warren<\/a> in a workhorse role. Last season was the first in which he\u2019s averaged double-digit rush attempts per game. Pittsburgh\u2019s new coaching regime may prefer an even split between its top two ball-carriers.\u201d<\/p>\n The BR analyst sees Tracy as a potential spark for the Steelers lackluster offense. The Steelers are in the bottom five teams in rushing yards per game and yards per carry. They are also ranked last with a 3.8 yards per play average.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of a rough stretch through the preseason, Tracy has likely fallen out of favor with the New York Giants<\/a>. He\u00a0missed a block<\/a>\u00a0that allowed a defender to blast quarterback Jaxson Dart<\/a> for a sack and lost a fumble on one of his two carries in Big Blue\u2019s season opener,\u201d wrote Morton<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Steelers may be able to acquire Tracy for a late-round pick, which is a steal for a player who\u2019s accumulated over 1,000 scrimmage yards in each of his first two seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n Should Steelers Acquire New RB? The Steelers might need an entire new offensive line and WR1 and offensive play-caller more than a new running back. A younger quarterback wouldn\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n But based on the exercise of identifying bargain bin options to potentially replace injured players from Week 2, Tracy is an intriguing option. The Steelers were supposed to have a strong running back duo with Dowdle and Jaylen Warren. But behind them, the depth on the active roster isn\u2019t experienced.<\/p>\n Running back Eli Heidenreich<\/a> is a seventh-round rookie. The Steelers traded second-year running back Kaleb Johnson<\/a> to the Green Bay Packers<\/a> before the roster deadline in August.<\/p>\n Even still, there are priorities for the Steelers offense other than another running back. And quite frankly, adding another new player to the scheme could just confuse things further. Head coach Mike McCarthy spoke at length after the 20-3 loss Sunday that he has to have a simpler game plan.<\/p>\n The severity of Dowdle\u2019s injury could change things. But it probably makes the most sense for the Steelers to roll with Warren as the backfield bell-cow as long as Dowdle\u2019s injury is a short-term one.<\/p>\n What Could Tyrone Tracy Jr. Bring to Pittsburgh Backfield But let\u2019s consider Morton hypothetical and say the Steelers do try to trade for a veteran running back. Tracy could be an ideal fit.<\/p>\n Tracy would bring a dual-threat ability in the backfield. During each of his first two seasons, he posted<\/a> more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage. In 33 NFL<\/a> games, he has averaged 4.3 yards per carry and registered 74 catches for 572 yards.<\/p>\n Tracy has scored 10 total touchdowns as well \u2014 seven rushing and three receiving.<\/p>\n In Pittsburgh, Tracy could share the workload with Warren if the toe injury sidelines Dowdle for an extended period. Tracy could then provide veteran experience to the Steelers backfield once Dowdle returns (although so far, Pittsburgh has elected to have youth behind its top two running backs).<\/p>\n As long as Tracy truly is a bargain as Morton suggested he would be, it\u2019s a trade the Steelers could consider if Dowdle is out for several weeks.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDave Holcomb<\/a> is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers and a variety of other NFL teams. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rico Dowdle left Week 2 versus the New England Patriots because of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-291279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}GettyPittsburgh Steelers running back Rico Dowdle left Week 2 versus the New England Patriots because of a toe injury.<\/p>\n![\"Tyrone](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2292513893.jpg\")
GettyBleacher Report\u2019s Moe Morton argued the Pittsburgh Steelers should acquire running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. with Rico Dowdle banged up after Week 2.<\/p>\n