Teams never get everything they want in free agency, but the Steelers have come close.
They needed offensive playmakers and help in the secondary, and they added those elements in free agency.
The Steelers' first three additions met Pittsburgh reporters on Friday and talked about their specific fits with their new team.
JAMEL DEAN
The Steelers were looking for help at cornerback opposite Joey Porter Jr. Enter Dean, who has only allowed one touchdown pass the last two seasons – or one more than Porter has allowed in the same span.
Dean, a 29-year-old press corner from Tampa Bay, was asked about his expectations for playing with Porter.
"I'm going to just continue to play the style of football I've been playing since I've been in the league," he said. "I don't have to really say much to Joey because his play speaks for itself. So just knowing you have that comfortability that he's going to hold it down on his side, I'm going to hold it down on mine."
Dean was Pro Football Focus's fifth-ranked cornerback in the NFL. And another analytics media site, Next Gen Stats, reports that Dean allowed the fewest yards per target (4.5) and the lowest passer rating (41.3) of any outside cornerback in the NFL. So, what attracted him to Pittsburgh?
"For the most part it was basically the culture that's been built here over the years," Dean said. "I understand that basically all we do is win here, so I'm in a point of my career now where I'm trying to chase another Super Bowl and I feel like with the personnel we have here and the coaching staff, I feel like it's possible we can get that done."
In Dean, the Steelers bring in a physical cornerback whose statistics shine in the passing game, but who at 6-1, 206 is also a physical tackler in the run game. But it's his style of play that tells Steelers fans that this team, this defense, has a pair of starting cornerbacks who like to get in a receiver's face and disrupt timing.
"That was just the mentality we had at Auburn," Dean said. "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 as well.' His mentality was we're going to press you the whole game. ... You've got to be able to disrupt timing to throw off the trajectory of the ball, the timing of the route. That's the way you make plays."
RICO DOWDLE
The Steelers were looking to add to the running back position, someone to share front-line duties with Jaylen Warren. Dowdle, who's coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with two different teams, can do that.
The 6-0, 215-pound power back has a big enough chip on his shoulder to make it a three-peat. He said that chip came from being undrafted out of college. Just like Warren.
"My mindset," Dowdle said, "I think it put that chip on my shoulder, just having to prove me myself, having to prove it every year, having to make the roster. Like I said, being that undrafted guy, from being in the first round, I definitely think it makes your journey a lot different in the NFL, for sure."
Dowdle was signed as an undrafted free agent by Coach Mike McCarthy and the Dallas Cowboys in 2020. In 2024, he finished the season with 1,079 yards rushing and 39 receptions. He signed with the Carolina Panthers in 2025 and rushed for 1,076 yards and again caught 39 passes.
Dowdle clearly can catch passes and at his size and with his experience can also pick up blitzes. As an all-around back, he easily compares to Warren.
"Me and Jalen, I think we're pretty similar, those north-and-south vertical guys," Dowdle said. "But just in general, getting with a new team, new organization, meeting new people, and things like that, I'm excited about all of that, the new coaching staff. Besides that, I know my running backs coach. I was with him in Dallas. Coach McCarthy, I was with him. But everybody else, just new faces, new place, new city. Excited about it all, and looking forward to it."
It was McCarthy who kickstarted Dowdle's professional career. Dowdle said his coach "played a major role into my decision to come to Pittsburgh," that McCarthy gives him "a little bit of familiarity, not learning the new offense and things like that."
Dowdle was asked to describe McCarthy's offense.
"He wants to get going through the run game to establish that, establish everything at the line of scrimmage," Dowdle said. "That was one of our main things when I played with him in Dallas, protecting that quarterback and establishing everything through that line of scrimmage up front. And being physical. That's the one thing he always harped on, being the most physical team out there."
To that end, Dowdle is a physical runner. Again, like Warren.
"He reached out to me during the season last year and he liked my style of play, my game and stuff," Dowdle said of his new running mate. "He said, 'let's keep putting on for the undrafted guys.' So, yeah, now we're together here, so we get to do it together."
MICHAEL PITTMAN JR.
The Steelers have been searching for a threatening No. 2 wide receiver, and wasted no time in trading for Pittman Jr.
The 6-4, 223-pounder will be expected to line up opposite the 6-4, 229-pound DK Metcalf in what becomes a King Kong pairing of NFL receivers.
Last year with the Indianapolis Colts, Pittman caught 80 passes for 784 yards and 7 touchdowns. His average season, of his six in the NFL, is 87 receptions for 940 yards and 4 touchdowns. Metcalf's average season, of his seven in the NFL, is 75 receptions for 1,089 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Pittman doesn't see those numbers changing much while playing for McCarthy in Pittsburgh.
"He's just an offensive-minded coach and he likes to spread the ball around," said Pittman. "He's – I don't want to say pass heavy – but you know that he's going to pass the ball, which obviously played a big factor, because I like to catch footballs. So everything that he was saying about the usage and the offense and what we're trying to do and everything that he has planned, I was just fired up for it. I just can't wait for it. And I can't wait to actually throw on those pads and get into Acrisure Stadium."
Pittman was asked if he could expand on McCarthy's offensive vision.
"I don't want to give up his secret sauce, but it was very positive and diversifying the things that I can do," Pittman said. "Just getting back to where I have more of a diverse route tree and stuff like that."
Pittman is just as excited about the run game.
"Just being that guy who catches passes but also blocks his tail off," Pittman said. "That opens up extra yards, because maybe instead of a five-yard run play, it turns into a 30-yard run play, or it turns into an explosive run, and then that sets up the pass game. Just showing my teammates that I'm not here to just catch the ball, that I'm willing to do all of that dirty work, too."
Pittman, the son of former Tampa Bay running back Michael Pittman Sr., was drafted by the Colts out of USC in the second round of the 2020 draft. He was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2022, caught a career-high 109 passes for a career-high 1,152 yards in 2023.
"The initial thing is obviously you're kind of sad about the people that you spent six years with and that you grinded with," Pittman Jr. said. "I'm only 28. Six years is almost a quarter of my life I've been with the same team. So, there's obviously a little bit of sadness. But then after that, there's some excitement of coming to a new place with a new opportunity. When I got on the phone with Mike, and everything that he was saying, it just got me really fired up and I really feel like this is the right place. I'm going to do anything I can to help this team win, and just learn the way that they do things here, and follow suit."
