The Steelers were looking to add to the running back position, someone to share front-line duties with Jaylen Warren. Dowdle, who’s coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with two different teams, can do that.
The 6-0, 215-pound power back has a big enough chip on his shoulder to make it a three-peat. He said that chip came from being undrafted out of college. Just like Warren.
“My mindset,” Dowdle said, “I think it put that chip on my shoulder, just having to prove me myself, having to prove it every year, having to make the roster. Like I said, being that undrafted guy, from being in the first round, I definitely think it makes your journey a lot different in the NFL, for sure.”
Dowdle was signed as an undrafted free agent by Coach Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys in 2020. In 2024, he finished the season with 1,079 yards rushing and 39 receptions. He signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2025 and rushed for 1,076 yards and again caught 39 passes.
Dowdle clearly can catch passes and at his size and with his experience can also pick up blitzes. As an all-around back, he easily compares to Warren.
“Me and Jalen, I think we’re pretty similar, those north-and-south vertical guys,” Dowdle said. “But just in general, getting with a new team, new organization, meeting new people, and things like that, I’m excited about all of that, the new coaching staff. Besides that, I know my running backs coach. I was with him in Dallas. Coach McCarthy, I was with him. But everybody else, just new faces, new place, new city. Excited about it all, and looking forward to it.”
It was McCarthy who kickstarted Dowdle’s professional career. Dowdle said his coach “played a major role into my decision to come to Pittsburgh,” that McCarthy gives him “a little bit of familiarity, not learning the new offense and things like that.”
Dowdle was asked to describe McCarthy’s offense.
“He wants to get going through the run game to establish that, establish everything at the line of scrimmage,” Dowdle said. “That was one of our main things when I played with him in Dallas, protecting that quarterback and establishing everything through that line of scrimmage up front. And being physical. That’s the one thing he always harped on, being the most physical team out there.”
To that end, Dowdle is a physical runner. Again, like Warren.
“He reached out to me during the season last year and he liked my style of play, my game and stuff,” Dowdle said of his new running mate. “He said, ‘let’s keep putting on for the undrafted guys.’ So, yeah, now we’re together here, so we get to do it together.”