Posts tagged RashardMendenhall at FanHouse

It's preseason, so there's no reason to freak out too much over the Steelers loss to the Bills, but here's what jumped out to me from the game.

• Steelers fans have been noticing Santonio Holmes for two years but this is the year taht evberyone else will get to notice the third-year receiver. It's not hard to imagine Holmes going for 1,200+ yards with an outstanding yards per catch average. In two games this preseason he's looked unstoppable.

• It's hard not to get excited about the idea of James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley coming off the edges. For the second straight week, Pittsburgh generated a pretty solid pass rush just by lining up and beating people off the edge--something that hasn't been true in recent years.

The Fighting Illini were quite the surprise in college football last season, going 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten a year after finishing 2-10. The quick turnaround in Champaign resulted in the first Rose Bowl berth for the Illini since 1983, and the team celebrated by getting their butts kicked 49-17 by USC.

Still, despite the embarrassment handed them by the Trojans, the 2007 season can't be considered anything less than a raging success at Illinois.

The question is, will the Illini be able to carry that success into the 2008 season? History suggests they won't as they've generally followed every winning season with a losing season in Champaign, but that was before the recruiting machine that is Ron Zook came to town.

So will the Illini continue their climb to becoming a Big Ten powerhouse, or will they return to the back of the pack?

I'll admit it: in the weeks and months leading up to the NFL draft, I hated the idea of the Steelers drafting a running back with their first-round pick. There were much bigger needs along the offensive and defensive lines, and running backs, in general, are pretty easy to scare up and for relatively little cost (hi, Willie Parker!).

On draft day, however, that's exactly what happened: Pittsburgh used the 23rd overall pick on Rashard Mendenhall, running back. Thing is, given how events unfolded during the first 22 picks, it was hard to fault the Steelers; they did what diehard draft nerds are always preaching: took the best player available.

And now, two days before training camp begins, the club has signed Mendenhall to a five-year deal. Obviously, Parker is the feature back (or, at the very least, is listed atop the depth chart), but head coach Mike Tomlin has plans for the revamped rushing attack.

"Our initial plan is he's going to be a supplemental runner," Tomlin said. "The growth of his role will be determined on his ability to execute from an assignment standpoint, how he deals with being a professional athlete.

"To this point he's shown he's mature and unique for a 21-year-old guy. Hopefully, that translates into him growing and developing as a member of this football team quickly."

With plenty of lingering questions about the state of the offensive line, the skill position players will be responsible for keeping Ben Roethlisberger upright. If the offense can create match-up problems at running back and wide receiver, the o-line deficiencies could be minimized. If that doesn't happen, it could be a long, painful 2008 for Big Ben.

The Lions were derided for bypassing Rashard Mendenhall in the first round of this year's draft for right tackle Gosder Cherilus, but I think it was one of the best decisions in the first round, especially after the team managed to select running back Kevin Smith in the third.

But as training camp grew nearer, the Lions still had to figure out a way to get Cherilus and second round pick Jordan Dizon under contract. Dizon remains unsigned, but the team has announced that it has come to terms with Cherilus. Terms are not disclosed, but the two sides worked until late-night Wednesday to hammer out a deal, ensuring Cherilus was on the field for the team's first practice this morning.

It was only recently discovered that a year ago Cherilus was involved in a bar room brawl. Supposedly acting as a peacemaker to break up a fight, Cherilus broke a man's neck. Some peacemaking. Though it's newish news to us, the Lions claim to have been aware of the incident when they drafted Cherilus, who recently received a one year probation, and feel he's a good fit in Rod Marinelli's character-first locker room.

Last week, the Steelers released Najeh Davenport, a 245-pound running back who was signed to replace the ineffective Duce Staley in 2006. Staley was signed two years earlier to take over for the soon-to-be-retiring Jerome Bettis (he's from Detroit, you know). The common theme among the three backs? They were all big, plodding bruisers who could move the pile and excelled in short-yardage situations.

But as Pittsburgh heads into 2008, Gary Russell is the "heaviest" runner of those destined for the final 53, and he weighs 215 pounds (according to NFL.com). Rookie Rashard Mendenhall is 210, and Willie Parker and Mewelde Moore are listed at 209. But it's Moore, signed this offseason to a three-year, $4.95 million deal, who could be the key component to the new-fangled running game.

Not so much for his ability to actually run the ball, but because of his many other talents.

Rashard Mendenhall just finished the most productive season in the history of Illinois running backs and was drafted in the first round by the Steelers. He is, of course, rapt with ecstasy when talking about the guy who put him in this position:

"To tell you the truth, as long as Ron Zook is there it will be hard for me to support the University of Illinois football team," Mendenhall said.

Uh. Dude. In a wide-ranging interview with an Illinois newspaper named the News-Gazette that declines to mention where the hell it's located, Mendenhall drops that bomb and many others. To wit:

• His brother and teammate Walter is the only reason Mendenhall didn't transfer before his breakout 2007: ""There was a point where we were at the stadium and I was ready to start walking out and my brother stopped me."
• His animosity had nothing to do with "what happened to" his brother, who is going to graduate and transfer to I-AA Illinois State for his final year of eligibility: "It's so much more than that. It's so much that's going on right now, that went on with me that people don't know. It's hard for me to support how things are done."
• Ron Zook eats babies.*

Like I said: dude. I think we now know why the hyper-talented Mendenhall spent his first two seasons stuck behind decent but uninspiring backs. Well... sort of. At no point in the article does Mendenhall say why he wants Ron Zook to play in traffic, just that "everything wasn't as it appeared to be."

Well, why not? Does Zook have three heads? Does he shave his legs? Did he walk over to Mendenhall's apartment every morning and take a dump on the porch? INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW.

*(Silly blogger, Ron Zook doesn't eat babies. Babies are for Maxiell.)

You've seen them talk big on the red carpet of the EA Sports Rookie Madden Bowl, but do these NFL rookies actually have Madden skills? Follow along with underdog Dexter Jackson and overdog (?) Devin Thomas to find out how the tournament panned out. Stay tuned at 0:32 for an embarrassing cameo by Rashard Mendenhall. I ain't mad at you, Rashard!


AOL Video link. YouTube link.

There was some consternation among Bears fans that the front office had taken leave of all their senses following last month's draft. First, Chicago sat idly by during free agency despite needs up and down the roster. And then, with the 14th overall pick, the team passed on the obvious choice, running back Rashard Mendenhall, to fill another (some might say equally as) pressing need: left tackle.

Vanderbilt's Chris Williams -- and his T-Rex arms -- will get every chance to earn the starting job, and there's a good probability that the team's second-round pick, running back Matt Forte, could be in the starting lineup sooner rather than later too. From Scout.com's Ed Thompson:

A league source told Scout.com that when Matt Forte went through his paces at a private workout for Chicago and showed his football intelligence during a film session, at least one influential member of the coaching staff was set on adding him to the roster over Mendenhall.

So even though Mendenhall was available to the Bears when they ... patiently waited until the 13th pick in the second round and still got the running back it wanted.

Some may disagree with the Bears' decision, but it's hard to argue with landing a franchise left tackle and still shoring up the rushing game. Plus, give the Bears credit for learning from their previous mistake: at least they didn't spend another high first-round pick on a running back. Now if somebody could just convince them that it's okay to draft a quarterback.

Because it's May and there's not much else going on, something as innocuous as a player missing a weight-lifting session can suddenly become a front-page scandal. Perhaps that's a little too breathless, but you get the point.

Cowboys running back Marion Barber is looking for a long-term deal, and as a result, he has yet to sign his one-year, $2.6 million restricted free agent tender offer. He's also not participating in the team's offseason workouts, which, depending on your perspective, is potentially a big deal. Owner Jerry Jones, is unconcerned, and he doesn't think it'll have any bearing on Barber's performance once the season starts. You know, because it's May:

Although Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is disappointed with running back Marion Barber electing not to work out with the team thus far this off-season, he doesn't feel it [it's an issue]. ...

"I don't see that it will have a negative impact in his playing this year," Jones said Wednesday during the Cowboys' annual golf tournament for some of its corporate partners.

I think that's right. Players are primarily working out this time of year, and whether it's in Dallas or somewhere else, I don't think it much matters, especially since Barber's familiar with the Cowboys' offense.

The team is hoping to sign both Barber and safety Ken Hamlin prior to training camp, and you have to think they feel pretty good about their chances. There was some grumblings from the Dallas-area media that the team should've taken Rashard Mendenhall over Felix Jones with the 22nd pick, but if the Cowboys consider Barber a part of the immediate future, Jones makes more sense. Now all that's left to do is to give Barber a bunch of money.

Back when the Jaguars were establishing themselves, it sometimes seemed like they were copying the Steelers. They emphasized line play and a power running game, they swiped away Steelers Pro Bowlers Leon Searcy and Carnell Lake in free agency, and seemingly every year they would snag a waived Steeler just before a key Jaguars-Steelers game.

Now Pittsburgh is returning the favor.

After watching the Jaguars' two-headed monster of a running game run over the Steelers three times in this past two years, the Steelers decided they needed a combo-pack of their own. The Steelers haven't added teal to the team colors of black and gold, but if everything goes right, Rashard Mendenhall and Willie Parker will give the Steelers a pair of backs like Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew.

By drafting Mendehall, Pittsburgh not only has an effective backup to Willie Parker, they also have a back who hopefully will allow Parker to avoid the "stuffed for no gain" carries that have been as much a part of his career as the 40+-yard scamper.