Just a few short years ago, Rashard Mendenhall was the starting running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers and was becoming a Super Bowl champion.
A couple of injuries later, Mendenhall has becoming nothing more than a quiet free agent pickup for the Arizona Cardinals.
After only appearing in six games last season for the Steelers and rushing for 182 yards on 51 carries, fantasy owners seem to be putting a lot of stock in Mendenhall’s three-year stretch between 2009 and 2011. During those seasons, Mendenhall ran for 1,108, 1,273 and 928 yards, respectively.
Since then, Mendenhall has sustained a torn ACL, been deactivated due to inconsistent play and suspended for not showing up to the game he was deactivated for. But, owners still seem to find that enticing since he is going as the 29th running back in most drafts according to Fantasy Football Calculator’s average draft position rankings. In a standard 12-team league, Mendenhall would still be out of a starting spot but the backs that are going behind him, including BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Mark Ingram and DeAngelo Williams, are more deserving of a flex spot.
A running back in the flex spot is expected to get into a game and put up 75 yards or so on the ground and maybe a touchdown. But Mendenhall’s chances of pulling that off aren’t even close.
The injury concern is almost impossible to look past. After tearing the aforementioned ACL back on Jan. 1, 2012, he attempted to return to the lineup only to strain his Achilles in his second game back from the ACL injury. Since the Achilles injury, Mendenhall was never able to get a firm hold of the starting job, which eventually led to his demotion.
You also have to question a guy who refused to show up to the field after he was told he wouldn’t dress. It’s obvious he was upset of his demotion, but Mendenhall will be playing on a significantly worse team in Arizona than the Steelers were in 2012, so if they start off the year with a losing record through the first four games or so, does that mean Mendenhall will mentally check out?
Even if he manages to stay healthy, the Cardinals aren’t a team that is capable of putting up big numbers on the ground. Last season, Arizona ranked dead last in the NFL in rushing yards, last in yards per carry and 24th in the league in rushing touchdowns. That was due to a number of reasons, including injuries sustained to the backs, poor play from the offensive line and the Cardinals were constantly playing from behind. After starting out the season 4-0, Arizona only finished the season with five wins.
During the last 12 weeks of the season, there were only two games that featured a 100-yard performance from an Arizona running back, both times by LaRod Stephens-Howling who is now with Pittsburgh. It’s also worth pointing out that during Week 8, Stephens-Howling was the leading rusher on the team with a whopping six yards. When a back can run for 104 yards one week and six the next, doesn’t that reflect more on the team than the back?
The rushing performance of the Cardinals could be even worse this season. They now have Carson Palmer at quarterback, who isn’t elite by any means but is head and shoulders above John Skelton, Kevin Kolb, Ryan Lindley and Brian Hoyer, the players who all took turns as the signal caller for Arizona in 2012.
A combination of Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald is far more enticing to new head coach Bruce Arians than a Mendenhall scurry out of the backfield for three yards at a time. There’s no doubt that Mendenhall is a talented back, but the Cardinals are a year or two away from being a solid team, and he is simply in the wrong position right now to succeed. And that’s assuming he plays a full year.