A new series to help take us through the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason. It’s easy to remember QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Franco Harris, and WR Hines Ward. Names who routinely led the team as passers, rushers, and receivers. But those household names didn’t lead the way every single year. Since the 1970 merger, there’s been a healthy number of obscure one-offs who finished first once, never to do so again.
That’ll be our trip down memory lane. The criteria are simple. Lead the Steelers in passing, rushing, receiving yards, or sacks during a season once – and only once during their time with the team.
Today, starting with RB Jonathan Dwyer leading the Steelers in rushing yards for the 2012 season.
Forgotten Leaders – Jonathan Dwyer (2012 – 623 rushing yards)
How does Jonathan Dwyer lead the Steelers in rushing in the first place? Rashard Mendenhall’s torn ACL late in the year before opened the door in training camp. In a messy committee approach between Isaac Redman, Chris Rainey, Mendenhall (once healthy), and Dwyer, no Steelers’ back shined that year. Redman and Rainey were ineffective, Mendenhall ended the year suspended, leaving Dwyer as the default option.
To put his year in perspective, he led the Steelers in rushing yards despite having two-count ’em, two-games with at least 60 yards. Each of the pair went for over 100 and occurred in back-to-back games. He rushed for 122 yards in a Week 7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Highlights of his best gains are below.
As an encore performance, Dwyer, powered by the Bumblebee unis, posted 107 against the Washington Redskins the following week.
His highlights follow a similar theme. Downhill running, bumbling and stumbling and rumbling to break the occasional tackle and plow ahead. It’s not graceful, but in spurts, it was effective. And Pittsburgh loves itself a big power back.
Success, however, was fleeting, and Dwyer won the world’s slowest race. Pittsburgh finished bottom-third in every major rushing category, including 26th in rushing yards, 28th in average, and 27th in touchdowns. Dwyer himself only scored twice. Analytical and relative metrics didn’t serve them any better. Dwyer posted just a 41.7-percent run success rate. Of the 44 players that year with at least 100 carries, he ranked only 36th. Redman’s mark was even worse.
Jonathan Dwyer ended the season starting the Steelers’ final three games. He rushed for 22 yards in an overtime loss to the Dallas Cowboys, 39 yards in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, and 52 yards in the finale win over the Cleveland Browns.
The ugly season motivated Pittsburgh to land a marquee back in the following draft, selecting Michigan State’s Le’Veon Bell in the second round. After missing the first three games of his rookie year due to injury, he assumed a bellcow role. Dwyer didn’t start another game, ending 2013 with 49 carries for 197 yards. It was his final year in Pittsburgh, and after a season in Arizona, he was out of the league.
That will largely be the theme of this series. “Leaders” to the letter, but in awkward, messy, and often down years for the team or that particular unit. Jonathan Dwyer’s mark fits that bill.
