The division of labor at RB

That’s what I called them

Little Jimmy’s

Not to be confused with a sperm donor named Jim

 

The Big Nowakowski!

 

Until you posted this I didn’t even realize the Steelers had used the tush push in 2025

And then I remember Rodgers standing there doing nothing

Overview


The Pittsburgh Steelers successfully adopted the "tush push" in 2025, running the play 11 times with an 82% success rate. They uniquely snapped the ball to tight end/fullback Connor Heyward rather than the quarterback, adding a humorous wrinkle where Aaron Rodgers stood stoically out of the action.

 

Yeah I figure Heidenreich will be a Joker in McCarthy's offense. On the depth chart he'll probably slot as the RB3 but he'll get snaps based on how well he can win matchups. Which means I expect him to get on the field to some extent.

Problem for him is the Steelers drafted a fine slot. But that aside I think Heidenreich was slept on in the draft. He's got good size and legit speed. Dude is a nightmare in the seams, wheels, etc. Real smart too. You don't want to draw a guy like him as a backer or safety.

 

The problem is that he isn't all that great a running back. He is a tweener who needs to learn to run a full route tree.

 

Yes and this is why I expect him to function in that Joker type role.

 

Those were some of my favorite plays. LoL .

 

This
I see from a few people on here we are looking at it the same way. I just hope it actually works out this way.

 

I agree.

He also has elite short-area quickness, and he is a running back. He isn't going to get arm tackled and go down easily. This guy can break tackles after the catch and get into the open field. He has a chance to be a real weapon.

 

I like there there is going to be resilience in the RB room.

Seems to me like Warren and Dowdle will be pretty interchangeable.

Wonder if they'll do something like rotate series early in a game then go with the hot hand?

 

It's possible, but they do have different strengths. Dowdle does a lot of his damage running inside. He has been the better runner of the two. Warren is the better third-down back, though they are both complete backs.

 

I agree that they have at least somewhat different styles. It's the "complete backs" part that I think makes them more or less interchangeable.

I do believe that Warren is very good at pass-pro so he's a good option on 3rd. But he's more than that IMO. From what I've heard about Dowdle, he's passable in pass-pro, but not something he excels at (but I'm willing to wait and see IRL).

It will be interesting to see how the usage works. And how they both perform in the same offense.

 

We all have to wait and see, but we can speculate based on past performance. I think the best option would be to have them split time, but with Warren getting all snaps a third-down back would get and Dowdle getting more opportunities on first and second down and in short yardage.

 

I know Dowdle has been good in the last two seasons. One with MM and one without.

I'm just leery of the "teacher's pet" players after Patterson and J Smith. It's a different coaching staff though. Hopefully, that means different results for guys like this.

I hope they start with something like an even split and make one of them earn more reps instead of just "this guy played for me before, so I'll play him more".

I had enough of that kind of thinking at TE last year.

 

Tell us again why we should have overpaid Najee

 

No one said Harris should be overpaid. I don't know of anybody here who argued for more than his fifth-year option, then letting him leave after the 2025 season, but some folks do love to lie about what the other side of an argument said.

The Steelers had to waste a third-round pick on Johnson and get lucky with Gainwell's career year for 2025 because they clearly don't think Warren can handle a lead back's workload. Then they added Dowdle, who is likely to at least split the workload with Warren, if not take the starting job entirely.

 

I guess some folks enjoy trolling the board and lying. (This is not related to your post, Blast.)

 

No matter what coaches you bring in ,you are going to get the so called teachers pet syndrome at least for a bit. They are human , they have guys they know how they handle things in certain situations, and they have guys they've only seen on tape. It won't last forever. As soon as the new coaches get used to the other players.

 

I doubt they will allow Heidenreich to take snaps away from Warren or Dowdle.

There is good reason for McCarthy to favor Dowdle over Warren beyond their history together, though Dowdle's familiarity with his system does help. Dowdle has simply been the better back the last two seasons. He ran for over 1,000 yards both seasons, something Warren has never done, and had the higher average per carry both years.