PITTSBURGH — Rico Dowdle signed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers in March 2026. The deal came shortly after Mike McCarthy was hired as the team’s head coach in January 2026, replacing Mike Tomlin.
Dowdle’s mother, Leslie Dowdle, told him he would join the Pittsburgh Steelers shortly after McCarthy’s hiring. “She called me and said, ‘You’re going to Pittsburgh.’ Like, soon as [McCarthy] got hired, that’s the first thing she said,” Dowdle said. McCarthy later joked, “Mothers know best,” in reference to her prediction.
Dowdle and McCarthy previously spent five seasons together with the Dallas Cowboys, where Dowdle began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He made the Cowboys roster that year as a special teams player. He did not play in the 2021 season due to a hip injury and was active for only five games in 2022 because of an ankle injury, with no carries or receptions. In 2023, he recorded 361 rushing yards while occasionally replacing Tony Pollard. By the end of the 2024 season, Dowdle had become the Cowboys’ starting running back, averaging over 100 yards from scrimmage in the final seven games. That season, he totaled more than 1,300 yards from scrimmage and scored five touchdowns.
In March 2025, Dowdle joined the Carolina Panthers. He recorded over 1,000 rushing yards during the 2025 season, including a 206-yard performance against the Miami Dolphins in Week 5 and 239 scrimmage yards in a Week 6 win over the Dallas Cowboys. The Panthers made the playoffs that year but lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the first round. With Chuba Hubbard remaining the team’s long-term running back commitment entering 2026, Dowdle became a free agent.
Dowdle participated in Steelers OTA drills on May 28, 2026, at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex in Pittsburgh, PA. He joins Jaylen Warren as Pittsburgh’s primary running backs under contract through 2027. “We got two guys who can go out there and do the job at a high level. The coaches will decide how that goes. And I just come out here and put my best foot forward each day and let the rest take care of itself,” Dowdle said.