FILE - Pittsburgh Steelers new running back Rico Dowdle meets with reporters during an NFL football press conference in Pittsburgh, March 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

PITTSBURGH — Leslie Dowdle called it.

Months before her son Rico entered free agency after running for more than 1,000 yards for Carolina, Leslie Dowdle rang Rico just minutes after the Pittsburgh Steelers announced that Mike McCarthy would replace Mike Tomlin as head coach in January.

“She called me and said, ‘You’re going to Pittsburgh,'” Rico Dowdle said Thursday. “Like, soon as he got hired, that’s the first thing she said.”

As McCarthy joked a few minutes later, “mothers know best.”

Or in this case, at least she knows a good match when she sees it. Rico Dowdle and McCarthy spent five seasons together in Dallas, where Dowdle evolved from an undrafted rookie free agent into a versatile playmaker who rolled up more than 1,300 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns during his final year with the Cowboys in 2024.

Dallas fired McCarthy shortly after the season ended, and Dowdle left for Carolina in free agency not long after. He then spent 2025 proving that his breakout with the Cowboys was no flukem helping the Panthers to a playoff berth.

Carolina, however, remained committed to starter Chubba Hubbard over the long term, and when Dowdle hit the open market in March, it didn’t take long for him to reconnect with his old coach. He signed a two-year deal with the Steelers when free agency opened, joining a backfield searching for a proven veteran after 2025 team MVP Kenny Gainwell left for Tampa Bay.

Enter Dowdle, a former high school quarterback who quickly won over McCarthy.

Dowdle spent four productive if injury-marred years at South Carolina, and teams saw enough red flags that he went undrafted in 2020. The Cowboys took a flyer on him, and he repaid their confidence in him by making the roster as a special teams ace.

Injuries, just as they did during Dowdle’s time with the Gamecocks, got in the way. He didn’t play at all in 2021 (hip) and was active for only five games in 2022 (ankle).

“I really had to wait probably longer than I know he would have liked for his opportunity,” McCarthy said.

Those opportunities finally started to pop up in 2023, when Dowdle ran for 361 yards while occasionally spelling Tony Pollard. By the end of 2024, Dowdle was the starter. McCarthy was fired after the season, and Dowdle made his way to Carolina. A fresh start awaits in Pittsburgh with Jaylen Warren.

“We got two guys who can go out there and do the job at a high level,” Dowdle said. “The coaches will decide how that goes.”