Friday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Steelers introduced a few of their new free-agent signees to the Pittsburgh media. It was a chance to meet running back Rico Dowdle, wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and cornerback Jamel Dean.
All three of the new players came off as engaging and seem like they are going to be pretty good interviews.
What was particularly interesting is that each of them revealed as much — or more — about what the team may be thinking as what they told us about themselves.
• I’m not sure if Dowdle will be deployed exactly the same way as Kenneth Gainwell was in tandem with Jaylen Warren. But my guess is that it will be more similar than it will be different.
“I definitely can be out there on all three downs. I think Jaylen can be out there on all three downs. I think you’ve got two guys that can play first, second, and third down — fourth down, fourth-and-short, if you need to do so,” Dowdle said. “I definitely think we’ll be able to complement each other well and play off each other. We’ve got two similar running styles. I think we’ll be good.”
In a lot of ways, replication of skill sets is good. It doesn’t matter which back is in at what time. The offense never has to change based on which back is in the game. Sometimes those “thunder and lightning” duos sound fun. Unfortunately, they can also be restrictive in what plays are called and can be a tell for opposing defenses.
The problem occurs when “replication” becomes “redundancy.” I don’t think that entirely happened with Gainwell and Warren last year. But I do think that Warren’s impact was, at times, diluted by Gainwell’s presence on third downs because both players excelled in that capacity.
If Dowdle becomes more of a base running back here, and Warren goes back to owning third downs, that won’t be the worst thing ever.
• As we assumed, yes, new coach Mike McCarthy’s offense will lean on the pass game — to the extent that Pittman said that McCarthy’s presence in Pittsburgh was a big reason why he decided to extend his contract here after he was acquired from Indianapolis.
“He likes to spread the ball around. I don’t want to say ‘pass-heavy,’ but you know that he’s going to pass the ball,” Pittman said. “Obviously (that) played a big factor (in signing an extension) because I like to catch footballs. What we’re trying to do and everything that he has planned, I was just fired up for it.”
That doesn’t mean McCarthy is going to ignore the run game.
“He wants to get going through the run game, establish that. He wants to establish everything at the line of scrimmage. That was one of the main things I noticed when I played with him in Dallas,” Dowdle said. “Protect that quarterback and establish everything through that line of scrimmage up front. Be physical. Be the most physical team out there.”
• As we hypothesized after the trade, the plan is going to have Pittman be a movable chess piece, shuttling between an outside-the-numbers threat and a big slot target.
“In Indy, I played a certain role (i.e., a career low 9.8 yards per catch last year). You were asked to play a certain role; you’ve got to do it. Getting back to where I have more of a diverse route tree, you would like to diversify,” Pittman said. “Tyler Warren, Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, we all kind of played tight to our roles. Mine was mine, because that’s what was decided. I feel like I did the best with that. Getting back to diversifying — just showing everything that I can do — I feel like I really showed that in my first three years. Then it just kind of got narrowed down to certain things.”
• Despite acquiring Pittman, the Steelers aren’t done adding to the wide receiver room. Pittman nearly guaranteed as much.
“I’m pretty sure that they might be looking at somebody (in the draft). They haven’t said that, but just looking at our room, it does look a little thin numbers-wise.”
Before Pittman came on board, the room was filled with just DK Metcalf, Roman Wilson and Ben Skowronek.
• Based on a story Dean told, new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham enjoys pushing buttons on his players.
Or, even potential draft choices.
Dean said when he was coming into the draft in 2109, he interviewed with Miami when Graham was the defensive coordinator, and Graham tried to intentionally get under his skin a few times.
“Coming into the league, he kind of grilled me,” Dean laughed. “One film, one play, I guess I accidentally loafed. He kept drilling there, ‘See, you’re just a lazy person.’ Then he asked me, “So what are you going to do in the off-season? And I just said, ‘I’m going to relax first, then I’ll start working out.’ Then he just starts saying, ‘Oh, so you are lazy.’”
• It sounds like the Steelers are going to be dedicated to more press-man coverage, an area that Dean prefers after taking some time to learn zone concepts coming out of college.
“For the most part, they’re just saying, ‘Hey man, we like your game. We feel you fit our scheme because you’re a physical corner that can cover and tackle,’” Dean said.
“The mentality we had in Auburn, my coordinator, Kevin Steele, his mindset was, ‘We’re going to press you before we get on the bus. We’re going to press you after we get off the bus. We’re going to press you all the whole game.”