{"id":514863,"date":"2026-03-10T10:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T10:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/514863\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T10:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T10:58:07","slug":"report-steelers-signing-rb-rico-dowdle-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/514863\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Steelers Signing RB Rico Dowdle (Update)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Steelers are signing former Carolina Panthers RB Rico Dowdle,<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Schultz_Report\/status\/2031147315377975724?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> per NFL insider Jordan Schultz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The move reunites Dowdle with Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy, who coached him with the Dallas Cowboys from 2020-2024. Dowdle has run for over 1,000 yards each of the past two seasons. He totaled 1,076 yards and six touchdowns on the ground in his lone season with the Panthers, while he ran for 1,079 yards in his final season with McCarthy in Dallas.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE (10:01 PM):\u00a0Per Aaron Wilson, Dowdle is signing a two-year deal worth $12.25 million.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Steelers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#Steelers<\/a> deal for veteran running back Rico Dowdle: two years, $12.25 million, per a league source<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AaronWilson_NFL\/status\/2031188355480694840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Steelers <a href=\"https:\/\/steelersdepot.com\/2026\/03\/schultz-steelers-losing-rb-kenneth-gainwell-to-buccaneers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lost RB Kenneth Gainwell in free agency<\/a> earlier in the day, and Dowdle should figure to be a replacement for Gainwell. He\u2019ll work with Jaylen Warren in Pittsburgh\u2019s backfield, while Kaleb Johnson also could make an impact in year two.<\/p>\n<p>Dowdle will turn 28 in June. He originally signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina and worked his way into a bigger role with McCarthy at the helm. 2024 was his first season as a lead back after totaling just 96 carries in the first three seasons of his career.<\/p>\n<p>In five seasons, Dowdle has run for 2,540 yards and 22 touchdowns and contributed 95 receptions for 690 yards and six touchdowns as a receiver. He caught exactly 39 passes in each of the past two seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Dowdle had one of the best individual performances of the season when he ran for 206 yards in Week 5 against the Dolphins. He also ran for 183 yards in Week 6. He had three games where he surpassed the 100-yard threshold, as he also did so in a Week 9 upset win over the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rico Dowdle versus Dolphins last season. 234 total yards on 26 touches with runs of 53, 43, 25, 16, 14, 13, 11 and 11 yards<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6D9nnyZMib\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/6D9nnyZMib<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Steelers Depot 7\u20e3 (@Steelersdepot) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steelersdepot\/status\/2031148740267094291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In addition to McCarthy, Dowdle will work with running backs coach Ramon Chinyoung again. Chinyoung had been an assistant offensive line coach in Dallas in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Signing Dowdle lessens Pittsburgh\u2019s need at running back ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft, though it could still be a position the team addresses late in the draft. Dowdle\u2019s familiarity with McCarthy is a plus, and he should form a solid tandem in the backfield with Warren. While it wasn\u2019t something he did often, Dowdle also returned eight kicks for the Panthers last season and could be an option for that role with the Steelers.<\/p>\n<p>Dowdle is Pittsburgh\u2019s third reported acquisition of the day. The team also reportedly traded for WR Michael Pittman Jr. and signed CB Jamel Dean on the opening day of the legal tampering period.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers are signing former Carolina Panthers RB Rico Dowdle, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz. The move&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[89863,349,116050,99,3795,15241],"class_list":["post-514863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-jordan-schultz","tag-nfl","tag-rico-dowdle","tag-sports","tag-trending","tag-weekly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}