Can Jaylen Warren surpass Rico Dowdle in Pittsburgh?
Yahoo Fantasy's Josh Norris and Hayden Winks discuss why they like Jaylen Warren to surpass Rico Dowdle as the lead back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Check out the full conversation on "Yahoo Fantasy Football with Josh and Hayden" - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen .
Video Transcript
Jalen Warren, he was quietly the RB20 on RB22 usage last year.
That was when Kenny Gainwell was the RB26 on RB25 usage.
Completely different roles, and we're gonna go and kinda like switch them back out, where I think Warren's gonna be the clear pass catcher over Rico Dowdle.
And if you just like look at the history between McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers, that's like a pretty important part of the backfield.
But I would say, compared to Kenny Gainwell, I think there's a very reasonable chance that, we can have Jalen Warren stealing a bunch of the goal line cut, touches from Rico Dowdle.
Like, there's-- I think that Jalen Warren runs with more pop than Rico Dowdle.
I think that Rico's a little bit more powerful.
But Jalen Warren does pack a punch.
He's gonna be out there in pass protection.
And this is another one of these teams where the offensive line is pretty dang good.
They've gotta figure out the exact, what they're gonna do at the, the final left tackle spot, but the rest of that offensive line between center, right tackle, the guards that they're kinda swapping around, it's a pretty good unit over there.
And I th- I think in general, I think Jalen Warren fits the McCarthy-Rodgers offense more than the Rico Dowdle stuff.
And there is a history between Dowdle and McCarthy, but most of that history was as a backup.
I think most teams view Rico Dowdle as a complement, you know, like four-minute drill to run out the clock situation.
And I think that the first snap of the season's definitely gonna be with Jalen Warren.
I think he's a candidate to catch 60 passes this year.
And I would not be surprised if the goal line role is, is cut pretty, evenly between Dowdle and Warren.
That's a pretty interesting profile for somebody that's like in the prime of his career and has kinda been like an analytics film guy darling for a long time.
Like, maybe this is like the best season of his career, and the moment we've always been waiting for with him happens maybe a year after the hype, has kinda left the station.
