The 2012 NFL season is almost upon us, for the Pittsburgh Steelers the watch word so far has been injuries. This team has been bitten by the injury bug already and no moreso than at the running back position. With the final round of cuts coming in just a matter of days, how the Steelers chose to situate their running back depth chart is still a point of debate.
Starting at the top we have last season’s starter Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall was taken off the PUP list after only 7 months after tearing his ACL. Realistically I can’t see Mendenhall having any significant impact on this offense for at least a month, but as I’ve contended this entire off-season, I don’t see him being a real player for this team at all this year.
Next up we have Isaac Redman. For me personally, I’ve always been pretty lukewarm about Redman in terms of talent but for whatever reason he’s a fan favorite, and on a team with some limited depth it does make sense he’d be next in line. But Redman is also hurt and so his services will be questionable to begin the season and considering it’s a groin injury we shouldn’t be shocked if it lingers most of the year.
That puts us at 3, and that is Jonathan Dwyer. I loved Dwyer coming out of college, but since he’s gotten into the NFL he has really struggled to stay well enough to stay on the field. But going into this season he’s healthy, at least for the moment, and assuming Redman can’t go is poised to be the starter week 1.
But being the starter for the Steelers is probably in name only at this point. Dwyer is no feature back. Neither is Redman. So like Hillary Clinton once said, “it takes a village”. That means players like rookie Chris Rainey, third year player Baron Batch, second year fullback Will Johnson, and recent addition DuJuan Harris could see carries. They were in a position to use running backs Jason Ford and John Clay, however both have been injured and subsequently waived.
Is a rotation of Dwyer, Rainey, Johnson, Batch, and Harris the way to go into a season? This does not inspire me with confidence. And with Mendenhall and Redman both on the active roster but ailing, can they carry 5 more backs? It’s doubtful. One of these men, and maybe 2 will not make the final cuts. There is always the possibility of snagging a veteran who is a cap casualty, like Knowshon Moreno in Denver.
What would I prefer? If the Steelers want to add some talent, there are some young backs on the bubble on several teams. The Philadelphia Eagles may release rookie Chris Polk who’s not shown much in preseason but was incredibly productive in college. Some others are Cyrus Gray in Kansas City, Tavaris Cadet in New Orleans or Tyrell Sutton in Carolina. These are talented young backs who could all be looking for work very soon and staring down this depth chart I see no reason not to take a flyer on one.
I have already said at length that this year was going to be on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He’s got the fastest skill position core in the league and a line that isn’t going to give him much time. It’s going to be chuck and duck a lot of him, so it would be nice to have something that at least resembles a running game to help. But if they go in by committee with this group, their potential is going to be more than limited.
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