When are we as a society, and especially a fantasy football community, going to come around to the fact that Rico Dowdle is good at football? All he’s done over the last two seasons is top 1000 yards rushing in each despite not entering the season as the nominal lead back for either of his teams (remember the Zeke Elliott/Dalvin Cook panic in Dallas pre-2024? Me too. Good times).
Now, he’s reuniting with the head coach and play-caller who brought out his first 1000-yard season? Playing for a franchise that historically wants to play defense and run the ball in cold weather? Sign-eth me up!
Rico Dowdle and Mike McCarthy: Reunited and it Feels So Good
2025 Review
Rico Dowdle did his best Vinny Castilla impersonation in 2025. For those uninitiated in baseball lore, Vinny Castilla was a third baseman for the Colorado Rockies in the halcyon days of the Blake Street Bombers. In 1996 and 1997, Castilla literally exactly duplicated his season-long statistics. In 1996, he hit .304 with 40 home runs and 113 RBIs in 673 plate appearances. Then, in 1997, he hit .304 with 40 home runs and 113 RBIs in 668 plate appearances.
Dowdle, no doubt in homage to Castilla, nearly duplicated his 2024 stat line in 2025. For Dallas in 2024, he rushed for 1079 yards on 235 carries and had 39 receptions for 249 yards on 49 targets. As a Carolina Panther, his 2025 season line was 1076 yards rushing on 236 attempts and 39 receptions for 297 yards on 50 targets.
If you’re curious, Castilla followed his back-to-back duped seasons with a career-best .319/46/144 season in 1998. If Dowdle follows that pattern, as well, he’ll be due a monster season this year.
Don’t miss our fantasy football preview video of Rico Dowdle and the 2026 Steelers!
2026 Look Ahead
The Groundhog Day experience apparently got to be too much for Mike Tomlin. After yet another above-.500 but loss in the first round of the playoffs season, Tomlin walked away from his head coach position to work in TV. The Steelers replaced him with former Packers and Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy. McCarthy was, in fact, the coach in Dallas in 2024 when Rico Dowdle had his breakout season there.
Familiarity is all well and good, but McCarthy also provides a schematic advantage over the Tomlin/Arthur Smith regime. Carolina ran a 52.7% inside run rate in 2025 compared to Pittsburgh’s near-league-low 40.3%. McCarthy’s Cowboys ran inside at a 55.9% clip in 2024. This should provide a much more comfortable environment for Dowdle, especially since the Steelers’ aged quarterback wants to run everything out of shotgun. That’s OK for Dowdle, since Bryce Young is similarly forced to play primarily out of shotgun due to his lack of stature.
The 5’8” elephant in the room that could crowd out Dowdle’s production is the presence of Jaylen Warren, a perfectly fine and good player in his own right. Warren and Dowdle were nearly identical in fantasy scoring last year. Dowdle was RB16 and Warren RB17 in standard scoring. They flipped in PPR scoring, with Warren RB17 and Dowdle RB18. Conspicuous by his presence was Warren’s backfield running mate, Kenneth Gainwell, at RB16.
Since the most important constant in the Steelers offense from last season to this is Aaron Rodgers, clearly he can orchestrate an offense that can support two fantasy-startable running backs. Since Rodgers wants to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible to avoid hits on his aging anatomy, multiple running backs who can be successful in the passing game are practically a prerequisite. Coming off back-to-back Top-24 finishes and holding an ADP of RB32, Dowdle stands out as one of the best value picks in fantasy drafts
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A Look Inside the Pittsburgh Steelers
Editor’s Note: While this article focused on Rico Dowdle in fantasy football, we don’t want to leave you hanging on the rest of the team. Here is a quick look at the other fantasy-relevant Steelers.
Aaron Rodgers
Eight years ago, when Mike McCarthy was dismissed by Green Bay, he and Rodgers were at each other’s throats. Absence, as always, makes the heart grow fonder. The coach’s familiarity with the player and the player’s familiarity with the scheme should allow a relatively painless transition and give the old man (Rodgers) one last shot at a deep playoff run. He’s not a fantasy starter anymore, but as a Superflex or Best Ball QB3, he should be perfectly viable.
Jaylen Warren
As referenced above, my Rico Dowdle support should in no way be viewed as Jaylen Warren slander. It’s more that they’re very similar players and there’s no reason for Warren to be going a round-plus ahead of Dowdle in Best Ball ADP.
D.K. Metcalf
His career-low (by over a yard) ADOT is almost certainly correlated to playing with Aaron Rodgers. It’s unfortunately also correlated with his lowest PPR points-per-game output since his rookie season. The graph of his fantasy points by season since his peak sophomore year looks like one of those giant slides you ride down on a piece of burlap.
Michael Pittman, Jr.
His skill set (intermediate separator) should fit like a glove with Rodgers. Prefer him straight-up to Metcalf, and much prefer him at current ADP.
Roman Wilson
Friends don’t let friends draft Roman Wilson. If your buddy is on a drunken bender, take their Roman Wilson keys away. If they fight you on it, call an ambulance immediately. Their blood alcohol level must be so high that they’re in serious danger.
Germie Bernard
McCarthy has always played a lot of three-wide receiver sets. While Wilson may be the nominal starter on the early depth charts, if Bernard shows anything, it shouldn’t be long until he usurps the role. Whether he can be enough of a Donald Driver/Randall Cobb simulacrum to keep McCarthy wanting to run three-wide sets is TBD.
Pat Freiermuth
Freiermuth scored fewer PPR points per game than Cade Otton last year. That is actual slander. Since McCarthy has talked about wanting to get Darnell Washington more involved in the offense, I fear for ‘Muth’s snap counts.
Darnell Washington
At some point, someone is going to figure out that this guy should be an unstoppable weapon at the goal line. I wouldn’t touch him in Tight End Premium leagues, but in standard leagues where falling into the end zone is all that really matters, he’s probably usable.
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Before you go, check out where Rico Dowdle and the rest of the Steelers fall in our 2026 Fantasy Football Rankings here!
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