The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2026 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June, and next up is the team’s annual training camp, which will get underway in late July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of that, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers “90 in 30” roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, is organized alphabetically by last name for easy follow-along. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.

The next three players we will preview ahead of the Steelers 2026 training camp are Rico Dowdle, Jack Driscoll, and Gennings Dunker.

RB Rico Dowdle: Dowdle signed a two-year, $12.25 million contract with the Steelers as an unrestricted free agent in March, and that deal included $5 million fully guaranteed.

Dowdle comes to Pittsburgh after playing the 2025 season with the Carolina Panthers. Prior to his one season in Carolina, Dowdle played his first five NFL seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, the team that originally signed him as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 2020.

For his NFL career, Dowdle has played in 69 regular-season games with 26 starts. He has rushed for 2,540 yards and 10 touchdowns and has caught 95 passes for another 690 yards and six touchdowns in regular-season action. Along the way, Dowdle has recorded 18 kickoff returns for 435 yards with a long of 64 yards.

Dowdle missed the entire 2021 season because of a hip injury he sustained in the Cowboys’ third preseason game against the Houston Texans. He also missed several games during the 2022 season due to an ankle injury. An ankle injury also caused him to miss one game during the 2023 season.

Despite being in the NFL since 2020, Dowdle has only logged 1,493 offensive snaps and 411 more on special teams. Almost all of those offensive snaps (1,474) have come in the last three seasons, two of which were with the Cowboys.

Dowdle is now reunited with new Steelers HC Mike McCarthy, who was Dallas’ head coach from 2020-2024.

Outlook: It should not be a huge surprise that Dowdle has reunited with McCarthy in Pittsburgh, as the two were together in Dallas. The fact that he was an early free agent target this past offseason means that he should have a significant role on offense in 2026. Even so, we can probably expect the Steelers to attempt to share the running back workload between Dowdle and Jaylen Warren in 2026.

Dowdle, like Warren, is a three-down running back. And while Dowdle’s pass-protection skills likely aren’t as good as Warren’s, he can still hold his own in that phase of his game. Dowdle and Warren are both between-the-tackle runners, and both are fairly accomplished receivers out of the backfield. On top of everything else, Dowdle has shown he can gain yards after the catch in the passing game and after first contact in the running game. Warren also shares those two positive traits.

Will Dowdle and Warren wind up with fairly even workloads throughout the 2026 season? That’s certainly plausible. That said, I think it’s reasonable at times to see the Steelers stick with the running back who gets the proverbial hot hand during games.

While Dowdle hasn’t delivered a large number of explosive runs throughout his NFL career, he certainly is able to break a few off should he get the necessary blocking up front. His addition gives the Steelers a great 1-2 punch in their backfield. That Dowdle can also return kickoffs in a pinch is just icing on top of the proverbial cake with him.

Dowdle has never registered more than 275 total touches in an NFL season, and he has only 662 touches for his career. Because of that, it’s hard to imagine Dowdle topping 275 touches in 2026. Realistically, he might be looking at being closer to 250 touches in 2026, or even possibly a bit fewer now that he is in Pittsburgh and likely to share playing time with Warren.

OT Jack Driscoll: Selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Auburn, Driscoll joined the Steelers late last October as a member of their practice squad. During December, Driscoll was elevated from the practice squad for three games, and while he was dressed and active in each, he never saw any playing time.

The Steelers ultimately signed Driscoll to their 53-man roster from the practice squad on Dec. 31. Even so, he still failed to register any offensive or special teams snaps the entire season. After the 2025 season ended, Driscoll became an unrestricted free agent. The Steelers, however, quickly re-signed Driscoll to a one-year contract in March. That veteran-benefit contract included a signing bonus of $187,500.

Prior to landing in Pittsburgh, Driscoll made 18 regular-season starts with the Eagles over a span of five seasons. For his NFL career, Driscoll has played 1,448 offensive regular-season snaps and 289 more on special teams. While most of his NFL snaps have come at right tackle, Driscoll does have some experience playing at left tackle. He’s even logged some snaps at right guard since being drafted by the Eagles.

Throughout Driscoll’s college career, he primarily played right tackle, especially during his final two seasons at Auburn.

Outlook: Theoretically, Driscoll is currently the senior member of the Steelers’ offensive line depth chart as he’s been in the NFL the longest. Even so, Driscoll has only logged 282 offensive snaps since 2023.

That Driscoll is considered mainly a right tackle at the NFL level could make it tough for him this summer when it comes to making the opening 53-man roster.

If the Steelers keep nine offensive linemen in total to open the regular season, Driscoll might be in the running for the ninth and final spot, especially if Broderick Jones opens 2026 on the Reserve/PUP list. Should the Steelers ultimately go with just eight offensive linemen on their opening 53-man roster, Driscoll would likely have no shot at garnering one of those spots.

It will be interesting to see if Driscoll receives any snaps at left tackle in any of the Steelers’ three preseason contests. One would think he might, but that’s far from guaranteed. Obviously, he should get some decent preseason playing time at right tackle.

Overall, and if we’re being realistic, Driscoll might ultimately be a prime candidate to open the regular season on the practice squad. He obviously wasn’t in any sort of demand as an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and with him being a somewhat experienced, position-flexible tackle that sort of speaks volumes.

OG Gennings Dunker: The Steelers selected Dunker in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft out of Iowa, where he played his entire college career. Dunker registered 38 starts and played in 48 games at Iowa. Dunker mostly played right tackle at Iowa, but he did log some limited playing time at both guard spots early in his college career.

At the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, Dunker measured in at 6050, 319 pounds with 33 1/2-inch arms and 10-inch hands. He ran his 40-yard dash in 5.18 seconds and posted a 32.5-inch vertical jump to go along with a 9’0″ broad jump. Dunker ran his short-shuttle drill in 4.63 seconds. At his Iowa pro day, Dunker did 29 reps on the bench and ran his three-cone drill in 7.58-seconds.

Because of his build and overall length, or lack thereof, it’s long been speculated that Dunker would kick inside to guard at the NFL level. His lack of arm length really necessitated such a move inside. The Steelers have listed as a guard from the moment they drafted him, and that’s where he’s practiced throughout the team’s offseason practice sessions.

Dunker has the perfect play style and demeanor for an NFL guard, and the expectation is that he will ultimately become a starter in Pittsburgh, especially by the start of his second season.

Outlook: In drafting Dunker in the third round, the Steelers are essentially saying that he can become a starting guard for them. Will that happen at some point during his 2026 rookie season? Will he enter his first NFL season as a starter? It’s hard to definitively answer either of those two questions before training camp gets underway. It does feel like Dunker will need to overtake two veterans in Spencer Anderson and Brock Hoffman, sooner or later, to ultimately become a starting guard for the team.

Anderson and Hoffman are both under contract through the 2026 season, so that obviously sets Dunker up to assume a starter’s role by 2027 at the latest. In the meantime, Anderson appears set to at least open training camp as the team’s starting right guard, especially if two of last year’s starters along the offensive line, OT Troy Fautanu and OG Mason McCormick, move over to the left side this summer, which certainly seems certain to happen. Hoffman, at least for the time being, appears destined to be the Steelers’ top interior swing option to open training camp.

While Dunker mainly played right tackle at Iowa, he did log some snaps at guard early in his college career. Had Iowa had a better option at right tackle for his final few seasons, Dunker would have likely played even more at guard. Now Dunker’s NFL future is indeed at guard, likely on the right side. That he could probably play right tackle in a pinch for the Steelers is just an added bonus.

Training camp and the preseason are when key position battles play out, and so Dunker could indeed wind up vaulting over Anderson and Hoffman with an extraordinarily strong summer showing. Should, however, Dunker not land the starting right guard spot by the start of the 2026 regular season, odds seem good that he works himself into that spot as the year rolls on. At the very least, Dunker appears headed for a gameday-active backup role along the offensive line.

Previous Posts In This Series:

90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Drew Allar, Spencer Anderson, Kyler Baugh
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jaheim Bell, Keeanu Benton, Germie Bernard
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Yahya Black, Chris Boswell, Devan Boykin
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jaquan Brisker, Carson Bruener, Cole Burgess
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Sebastian Castro, Dylan Cook, Greg Crippen
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jamin Davis, Joaquin Davis, Jamel Dean