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Pittsburgh Steelers Not Expecting Much From Rashard Mendenhall In 2012

The Pittsburgh Steelers front-office brass are not expecting much out of running back Rashard Mendenhall in 2012-13 season. General manager Kevin Colbert spoke to the Pittsburgh media Monday, and said the Steelers are planning for life without Mendenhall, who is recovering from a torn ACL that happened during a Jan. 1 regular-season game against the Cleveland Browns.

"I never feel good about an ACL for a year." said Colbert.

However, according to ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley, the Steelers are in good shape when it comes to depth at that position.

Pittsburgh should feel good about backup Isaac Redman after he ran for 121 yards in the playoff loss at Denver. But there is no certainty that he can handle a full workload for an extended amount of games. There are also questions about his ability to hold onto the ball.

Beyond Redman, there are promising running backs in Jonathan Dwyer, John Clay and Baron Batch. The problem is, they have a combined 35 carries in the NFL.
Hensley asks whether the Steelers will have the confidence to let Dwyer or Clay handle a full-time role if something does happen to Redman. If not, the Steelers' free-agent options are limited, because Pittsburgh is currently over the salary cap and can't sign anybody before March 13.

For more on the Steelers offseason, check out this SB Nation Pittsburgh StoryStream. For more on the Steelers, check out Behind The Steel Curtain.

Photographs by dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.