Jaylen

Warren

Warren tied a career-high in rushing, but the Steelers opted to try and run out the clock with Rico Dowdle, on Warren’s birthday no less, so Warren was unable to set a new personal best. Warren delivered plenty of chunk gains in this game, including a huge 51-yard run, but he split work pretty evenly with Dowdle. Warren had two more carries and ran four more routes, but this was as close to a split backfield as you can get, so Warren will really need to deliver on his touches to keep producing fantasy value. If you can get an RB1 in a deal for him, it might not be a bad idea to search for offers with Pittsburgh on a bye next week.

Warren got off to a hot start with 43 yards on the first drive, with 29 of those coming on a play that set up a short field goal. He totaled 78 yards in the first half, but found the sledding a little tougher in the final two periods with the Saints focused on stuffing the run. He outcarried Rico Dowdle 18-9, although Dowdle did add six catches to make the touches a little more even. Warren will look to impress again in Week 8 against the Browns’ front seven.

Warren and Rico Dowdle, who was active after missing three games with a toe injury, split the backfield carries for the majority of this game. Warren finally pulled away from Dowdle late in the fourth quarter and overtime. Over the final 20 minutes of the contest, Warren out-carried Dowdle 7-2. He held a modest 7-5 carries advantage through three quarters. Dowdle was more efficient on the ground, but the Steelers clearly trust Warren more in all situations when push comes to shove. Warren will be in the RB2 mix when he takes on the Saints next week.

Dowdle has been out since Week 2 because of the toe issue. In the meantime, Jaylen Warren has looked like one of the league’s most dynamic backs on the ground and through the air. While his gargantuan workload will return to normal with Dowdle back, Warren should still operate as the team’s unquestioned RB1. Dowdle is just a mid-range FLEX play for his first game back.

“He’s produced, so it’s been heavy. It’d be great to get Rico back this week, too. ... Having him as a one-two punch was the vision of this offense, but Jaylen’s crushing it right now. He’s been awesome for us,” McCarthy continued. That’s a very telling “but.” Warren has to be regarded as the chair of a committee at this point rather than in a backfield split, and Dowdle probably doesn’t belong in the FLEX conversation coming off his injury until we see a good workload for him.

Warren got the Steelers on the board with an 80-yard catch-and-run, where he simply beat the Colts defenders down the sideline. He also ripped off a 50-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The Steelers only had one other play go for longer than 17 yards on the day. Since Rico Dowdle has been out with a toe injury, Warren has emerged as a true RB1 in fantasy football. Even when Dowdle returns, you have to think that the Steelers have seen enough that they need to give Warren the lion’s share of the work.

It was reported earlier in the day that Dowdle was unlikely to suit up due to his ongoing foot injury, so this doesn’t come as a major surprise. We could be looking at a big game for Jaylen Warren against an underperforming Colts defense. With Keenan Allen back for the Colts, the injury to Jamel Dean is a bit of a blow to this Pittsburgh secondary.

McCarthy said he expects Dowdle and Jaylen Warren to be a “one-two punch” once Dowdle returns to the field. Warren has totaled 34 rushes over the last two weeks while rushing for 220 scoreless yards, but had a 21-89-0 line during the first two weeks of the season when Dowdle was active. Both backs will likely fall in the RB3/FLEX range if Dowdle suits up for Week 5’s game against the Colts.

Warren’s six targets combine with his 17 carries to give him his second consecutive game with more than 20 opportunities in the absence of Rico Dowdle, seeing all but two running back opportunities in the process. More impressive was the fact that he once again maintained elite efficiency on the ground through the additional touches, averaging 5.5 yards per attempt against a solid Browns run defense. The veteran back appears likely to revert to a strict timeshare with Dowdle expected back for Week 5 after the long week, bringing him back to the RB3 range for a meeting with the Colts.

It sounds like Warren is belongs on the RB1/2 border with Rico Dowdle (toe) sidelined again this week. The Steelers will try to control the line of scrimmage by frequently deploying TEs Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, both in the run game and as receivers.