As Andrew Dowell returns to the Saints for yet another season, he falls squarely into a category of a "star in your role" player.
So it's only fitting that he models his career after another player who did exactly that in Craig Robertson, who finished his Saints career in 2020 as Dowell was just beginning his.
“Seeing how he carried himself around the building, that’s something that I try to emulate for the team in my current role as I’m over time becoming more of a leader," Dowell said this week after signing his new deal, "becoming more of a vocal leader and making plays on the field as well.”
Listen to Andrew Dowell full interview on SportsTalk in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
And while he hopes to see more opportunities in a regular defensive role, he's more than happy to keep building out the niche he's carved out alongside J.T. Gray on all the underappreciated but vastly important snaps of the game, he told Mike Detillier and Charlie Long on SportsTalk this week.
He came up as a running back in Ohio, but was converted to safety in his senior year of high school. He was always making tackles on special teams even without participating in tackling drills, so his coaches knew it would be a seamless transition. He continued that at Michigan State, where he converted to linebacker, and has become a mainstay in New Orleans as he's perfected the artform of his role.
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"Just putting yourself in those positions and those reps and you’re primarily tackling guys, some of the returners that are really small and shifty and there’s a lot of space and stuff like that," he told WWL. "To be a great special teams player it definitely takes an artform in mastering that and stuff like that, and that’s something that I pride myself on doing and furthering throughout my career as well.”
Much like DT Malcolm Roach, who also re-signed this offseason, making it as an undrafted player has always been a driving force for Dowell and a big source of the chip on his shoulder. As a UDFA, you work for years just waiting to get an opportunity. An example of that came in 2021 when he blocked a punt against the Patriots.
"I had been working on that same move for the past year-and-a-half on the practice squad," he said, "and was just waiting for the opportunity to get that in a game.”
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The next step for him will be trying to follow in the footsteps of Kaden Elliss, who made the leap from role player to key contributor this past season while starting Will linebacker Pete Werner missed multiple games due to injury. His performance earned Ellis a lucrative 3-year deal with the Falcons.
Special teams was what allowed Dowell to get his foot in the door. Now he's got more on his mind, after not logging a single snap at linebacker in 2022.
"I look forward to carrying that farther," Dowell told WWL, "maybe getting a snap or two at linebacker over the time, so just continuing to develop as a football player, as a person and as a man.”
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