Former Vikings Defender Pulls a 180
The draft is in the books and NFL teams scramble to fill their remaining needs with available free agents. Those can now be signed without any impact on the compensatory picks.
This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers wanted to reintroduce former Vikings defensive tackle Dean Lowry. His deal with the Steelers was already in the news, reported by all the top newsbreakers, but he changed his mind.
On Sunday, Ian Rapoport noted on social media, “Veteran DE Dean Lowry is re-signing with the #Steelers, source said. Some important depth following the draft.”
Two days later, he updated, “Upon further review: Dean Lowry has decided to take a little more time to work into playing shape. He did not take a physical, but he has been fully cleared from last season’s injury.”
Lowry suffered a torn ACL during last year’s training camp, ending his season before it even had a chance to start.
Chris Ward of Steelers Now wrote about the state of Pittsburgh’s defensive line, “The Steelers have most of their 2025 defensive line returning, with Cam Heyward, Keeanu Benton, Derrick Harmon, Yahya Black, Esezi Otomewo and Logan Lee all under contract for 2026. Daniel Ekaule and Isaiahh Loudermilk, who also finished the 2025 season on the injured reserve list, also remain unsigned.
“In addition to bringing back the above six players, the Steelers also signed veteran free agent Sebastian Joseph-Day earlier this offseason and selected Notre Dame defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio with the club’s sixth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on Saturday.”
Lowry played a rotational role in Pittsburgh in 2024, his last healthy season. If he ultimately signs with the Steelers, he’d compete with all these players to clinch a roster spot.
The defender spent one season in the Twin Cities, as he was one of Brian Flores’ first additions in 2023. His stint with the purple team was unremarkable. A torn pec cost him half the season and he hadn’t particularly been a playmaker before the injury.
Lowry, a Northwestern alumnus, was a Packers fourth-rounder in 2016. Now 31 years old, Lowry has played for Green Bay, Minnesota, and Pittsburgh. In his rookie season, Lowry was a backup lineman, playing in 15 games but only 157 snaps that year.
His role expanded in year two, when he started 11 of 16 games and played nearly 500 snaps on defense. A year later, he logged his highest snap total in a season with 697. In seven years with the green NFC North franchise, Lowry played in 111 games with 80 starts and almost 4,000 defensive snaps.
The Vikings hired him in 2023, as their defensive line took a big hit following Dalvin Tomlinson’s departure. A two-year deal worth $8.5 million was signed. Lowry played in nine games and started four of them until the torn pec knocked him out for the year. In his first season with the Steelers, Lowry played in 12 games (one start).
In his nine seasons in the league, Lowry has logged 16.5 sacks, 271 tackles, and 23 tackles for loss. He has never been the man for splashy plays, primarily responsible for the dirty work in the shadow of Kenny Clark or Cameron Heyward.
Lowry will turn 32 in a couple of months.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.
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