The return of running back duo Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle is getting closer, but Pittsburgh elevated running back Lew Nichols from the practice squad for their Week 5 game against the Indianapolis Colts, which is probably a bad sign for the status of veteran running back Rico Dowdle.
Warren had 296 total yards the last 2 weeks without Dowdle in the lineup and played over 87% of snaps in both games. In week 1 Dowdle led the RB room with a 57% snap share, but he appears to be on the wrong side of questionable heading to the Steelers’ Week 5 contest vs. Indianapolis.
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren disappointed...
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren had a ...
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren had a ...
Rico Dowdle missed all practice sessions before getting ruled out for Thursday night. Jaylen Warren will command another elite opportunity share after ringing up 17 carries and three catches in Week 3. Lock in Warren as a high-end RB2 against Cleveland.
FOX Sports’ Ralph Vacchiano believes Dowdle “should end up as the workhorse” in the Steelers’ backfield after speaking with head coach Mike McCarthy.
That is massive for fantasy football. Dowdle is coming off back to back 1,000-yard rushing seasons and could now be stepping into a run heavy Pittsburgh offense designed to take pressure off 42 year old Aaron Rodgers. If the workload tilts heavily toward Dowdle, his current fringe RB2/FLEX price could look downright silly by October.
Jaylen Warren isn’t going anywhere, but fantasy managers shouldn’t ignore the smoke surrounding Dowdle. A true lead-back workload could turn Dowdle from a late round afterthought into a weekly fantasy weapon and potentially one of 2026’s biggest RB steals.
Head coach Mike Tomlin praised Eli Heidenreich on Tuesday, highlighting his natural instincts and positional flexibility. The seventh-round rookie out of Navy commands an intriguing dual RB/WR designation on the team’s official depth chart after averaging 6.8 yards per carry and 17.2 yards per reception during his final collegiate season.
While Heidenreich remains a long-shot for immediate fantasy relevance, his multi-phase versatility and 4.44 speed give him significant PPR appeal and has moved from watchlist candidate to must-draft in dynasty league rookie drafts.
The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted a satellite-plus weapon at No. 230 in Eli Heidenreich, who pairs a rock-solid 27.5 BMI with a 44.5% College Target Share (100th-percentile) that nearly breaks the standard prospect model. Heidenreich is a verified metric unicorn who averaged a massive 6.5 College Yards Per Carry while generating a dominant 18.5 Yards Per Reception at Navy, generating frequent comps to Christian McCaffrey.
For dynasty players, consider Heidenreich a late round flier that could be interesting should if there were to be some injuries in the Steelers’ backfield, particularly to Jaylen Warren.
The Steelers and running back Jaylen Warren have agreed to a 2-year deal that will pay Warren $7 million with $12 million guaranteed. Warren is the veteran in the backfield. The team added Kaleb Johnon in the 2025 NFL Draft in round 3.
With Najee Harris leaving via free agency to the Los Angeles Chargers, there is opportunity for Warren to be the lead back. While most believe Kaleb Johnson will take the Harris role, Warren can provide plenty of pop out of the backfield. Warren was 13th in yards per touch in 2024 with 5.2 and 6th in yards per route run at 2.50. Warren is a year removed from posting 61 receptions.
While this is a nice deal for Warren, it shouldn’t dissuade fantasy gamers from acquiring or drafting Kaleb Johnson. Warren ranked 46th for opportunity share in 2024 and is an undersized back at 5’8’’ and 207 pounds. Take this news as a chance to trade for Kaleb Johnson.
Author: Jeremiah Retzlaff (@coachretzlaff1)
