Steelers Invite Dayton QB Cole Dow to Rookie Minicamp

Dayton quarterback Cole Dow is attending Pittsburgh Steelers rookie minicamp later this week, his camp tells MLFootball, which Steelers Now was able to confirm.

Dow joins undrafted free agent quarterback John Rhys Plumlee at rookie minicamp. Like Plumlee, Dow has the potential to be a wide receiver in the NFL. Dow scored a 9.00 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 340 out of 3402 WR from 1987 to 2024.

Plumlee said in an interview with The Sick Podcast that he chose the Steelers as a UDFA because they told him they want him to play QB.

“Pittsburgh has relayed their confidence in me as a quarterback, they want me to play quarterback and develop as a quarterback,” he confirmed to Mike Nicastro and Jordan York.

Dow, a native of Park Ridge, Illinois, stands at 6-foot-1, 208 pounds. He started only three games at Dayton, all coming in 2023. He completing 47.4% of his passes for 311 yards, six touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 89.4 in 10 appearances last season.

Dow doesn’t have much of a resume as a quarterback, but the Steelers probably see potential in him as a possible wide receiver, given his impressive RAS numbers.

Dow joins Villanova wide receiver Rayjuon Pringle and Duquesne wide receiver D.J. Powell as players invited to rookie minicamp by the Steelers.

Players invited to rookie minicamp will come to Pittsburgh on a tryout basis for two or three practices. The Steelers have a two-practice session on Friday and Saturday two weeks after the first round of the NFL Draft, which falls on May 10-11 this year.

In addition to tryouts, first-year players and drafted and undrafted rookies can participate. Last year, the Steelers signed running back Alfonzo Graham from Morgan State and outside linebacker Toby Ndukwe from Sam Houston State out of their rookie minicamp tryout class.

The most notable player in recent memory to be signed out of the rookie minicamp was Devlin ‘Duck’ Hodges, who ended up starting games for the Steelers in 2019 and impressing enough in training camp to stay on the practice squad for the entire season.