Mendenhall (1 Viewer)

[Deuce'sWild]

The last 2 years I have drafted Mendenhall, thinking he was a talented RB who could be a great sleeper if something happened to Parker. But in his limited opportunities, he has looked awful. He simply looks slow and runs right up the OLs back and falls to the ground. I'm not convinced that if Parker gets injured that Moore would get more looks than Mendenhall after he stinks the place up for a quarter or two. The thing is, the Steelers have a cake schedule and the guy was a first round draft pick, so you have to think the Steelers see something in him?

I'm just curious how other owners are dealing with him this year. I'm almost ready to cut him loose to the WW and try my luck on someone like M. Bush or even a young WR like M. Kelly.

That potential for success makes it hard to let him go...but I'm really starting to doubt he will ever be worth anything.

Thoughts/opinions?

 

[flat_earth]

The last 2 years I have drafted Mendenhall, thinking he was a talented RB who could be a great sleeper if something happened to Parker. But in his limited opportunities, he has looked awful. He simply looks slow and runs right up the OLs back and falls to the ground. I'm not convinced that if Parker gets injured that Moore would get more looks than Mendenhall after he stinks the place up for a quarter or two. The thing is, the Steelers have a cake schedule and the guy was a first round draft pick, so you have to think the Steelers see something in him? I'm just curious how other owners are dealing with him this year. I'm almost ready to cut him loose to the WW and try my luck on someone like M. Bush or even a young WR like M. Kelly. That potential for success makes it hard to let him go...but I'm really starting to doubt he will ever be worth anything.Thoughts/opinions?

I've pulled the plug. He doesn't have "it". He may not end up being a complete flameout, but it's clear to me that he's nothing special. I traded up to draft him in one dynasty rookie draft last year and ended up trading him away near the end of the season. Then I was sucked in again by the hype in the offseason and drafted him pretty high in a startup this summer. I pulled the plug in that one too, and traded away Mendy/Parker a couple days before the first game. Glad I did so. Mewelde Moore played basically the whole 2nd half, including a couple short yardage situations. It's obvious the Steelers have zero confidence in Mendy, and I don't either.

 

[fruity pebbles]

I've pulled it as well. Small sample size i know but every time i watch him i'm left thinking if this guy wasn't a 1st round pick he might not even be on the team anymore. Very well could be wrong but i'd trade him while he still has some value and people remember how highly he was drafted.

 

[Art_VanDalay]

I can't say I am his biggest fan but a couple things to think about before acting rashly... first remember that the guy's first year in the league was essentially a washout. This is his first year with a full year of NFL strength training and learning the offense in the offseason as an added bonus. He is behind a guy named Willy that clearly has been on the decline and this will be his final swan song. When coming out of college, many scouts and NFL personnel had Mendy as the most talented back coming out (granted they make their share of mistakes) but they must have saw something in him. Lastly, if it is a redraft I would say cut away but remember he will reemerge when Willie misses time later and that is an opportunity Mendy may not give up. If in keeper/dynasty, it is too soon to give up so stay the course for this year and see what happens. He may surprise you ala Thomas Jones early in his "bust" career.

 

[JuniorNB]

Patiently waiting. The way Parker looked Thursday night tells me that Mendenhall might get his chance in a few weeks.

 

[Chase Stuart]

He's a lottery ticket. You're waiting for Parker to get hut or benched, if you took Mendenhall in a redraft. Nothing I saw Thursday night would change my opinion of him. I don't know how you can be quick to judge a first round running back who has had fewer than 25 career carries.

On October 1st of his second season Willis McGahee had 11 carries for 28 yards. And he also was the 23rd pick in the draft. You need to give an elite RB at least 100-300 carries before you can make any judgments. Making a call on him after 20 carries is insane, IMO.

 

[Chunky Soup]

He's a lottery ticket. You're waiting for Parker to get hut or benched, if you took Mendenhall in a redraft. Nothing I saw Thursday night would change my opinion of him. I don't know how you can be quick to judge a first round running back who has had fewer than 25 career carries.On October 1st of his second season Willis McGahee had 11 carries for 28 yards. And he also was the 23rd pick in the draft. You need to give an elite RB at least 100-300 carries before you can make any judgments. Making a call on him after 20 carries is insane, IMO.

Also, it was against the Titans.

 

[Deuce'sWild]

It's not so much the carries he has gotten, but also all the negative reports on him. He's been said to be slow, fumble prone, and lacking explosion into the hole. I haven't seen the slowness, because he never seems to get beyond the LOS, but the explosion to the hole or through the hole isn't there.

I know he hasn't been given a heckuva lot of carries to judge on, but he just doesn't seem to have "it". Recent rookies like McCoy, Coffee, F. Jones, C. Johnson, Forte, Rice, Choice...you can just tell after watching a few carries that they are special. I can't see that with Mendy.

 

[FUBAR]

He's a lottery ticket. You're waiting for Parker to get hut or benched, if you took Mendenhall in a redraft. Nothing I saw Thursday night would change my opinion of him. I don't know how you can be quick to judge a first round running back who has had fewer than 25 career carries.On October 1st of his second season Willis McGahee had 11 carries for 28 yards. And he also was the 23rd pick in the draft. You need to give an elite RB at least 100-300 carries before you can make any judgments. Making a call on him after 20 carries is insane, IMO.

:( Also, it was against the Titans.

People say this a lot, but there's probably 5-6 other defenses the Steelers play this year with as good or better run D.

 

[Black]

Patiently waiting. The way Parker looked Thursday night tells me that Mendenhall might get his chance in a few weeks.

It's early...think Pierre Thomas last year...or DeAngelo. Neither had done anything up to about week 5. Let him have some confidence and get into a groove.PIT will run the ball this year. I don't think Willie can do it for 16 games. Enter the young rookie with some skills....

 

[Deuce'sWild]

How would compare his opportunity or chance of success this year to Michael Bush?

 

[Couch Potato]

I'm confused. Why is "pulling the plug" with regard to Mendenhall after week 1 even a topic?

(1) Anyone who drafted him in a redraft league with any immediate expectations of him whatsoever deserves to be burned by the wasted pick, since everyone and his dog should have known Parker is going to get the lion's share of the carries including short yardage and goal line. That's been reaffirmed often enough by the team that fantasy player expectations of Mendenhall being anything more than a bit player this year, barring injury to Parker, demonstrates a lack of knowledge and doing your homework. If you've drafted him awaiting a Parker injury or benching, one week should have changed nothing for you.

(2) Anyone owning him in dynasty should understand the above, but also should already understand that Parker's contract is up at the end of this year and the team doesn't look like it will be renewing him. IMO they don't mind using Parker up this year because they know they are turning the reins over to Mendenhall next year. So, again, what Mendenhall did this week is irrelevant. Dynasty owners hold him for 2010 and beyond. To be shortsighted enough to pull the plug on a 22 year old first round pick based on what little we've seen of him so far would just be foolish.

Impatience is a major failing of bad fantasy owners. Don't be that guy.

 

[Godsbrother]

I've pulled the plug. He doesn't have "it". He may not end up being a complete flameout, but it's clear to me that he's nothing special. I traded up to draft him in one dynasty rookie draft last year and ended up trading him away near the end of the season. Then I was sucked in again by the hype in the offseason and drafted him pretty high in a startup this summer. I pulled the plug in that one too, and traded away Mendy/Parker a couple days before the first game. Glad I did so. Mewelde Moore played basically the whole 2nd half, including a couple short yardage situations. It's obvious the Steelers have zero confidence in Mendy, and I don't either.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion on Mendenhall and you may be right about him, I still think it is way too early to tell.I do take exception to the bolded part of your post. The Steeler's organization has been very positive about Mendenhall this preseason. The reason Moore was in most of the 2nd half is because the Steelers were in the no-huddle offense and were throwing the ball. This is Moore's role on the team and you need to understand that before making any decisions on any of the Steelers running backs after week 1.

 

[gonzobill5]

I took Mendenhall and Maroney with my last couple picks instead of drafting a kicker. Initially, I was in line with Chase's thinking that Mendy was just an injury away from a starting job and I thought I'd end up cutting Maroney. After watching Thursday's game, I'm pretty sure Moore would get the bulk of the work if Parker gets hurt or is ineffective. Mendy got the axe. Time will tell if it was the right call.

 

[Chaka]

I've pulled the plug. He doesn't have "it". He may not end up being a complete flameout, but it's clear to me that he's nothing special. I traded up to draft him in one dynasty rookie draft last year and ended up trading him away near the end of the season. Then I was sucked in again by the hype in the offseason and drafted him pretty high in a startup this summer. I pulled the plug in that one too, and traded away Mendy/Parker a couple days before the first game. Glad I did so. Mewelde Moore played basically the whole 2nd half, including a couple short yardage situations. It's obvious the Steelers have zero confidence in Mendy, and I don't either.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion on Mendenhall and you may be right about him, I still think it is way too early to tell.I do take exception to the bolded part of your post. The Steeler's organization has been very positive about Mendenhall this preseason. The reason Moore was in most of the 2nd half is because the Steelers were in the no-huddle offense and were throwing the ball. This is Moore's role on the team and you need to understand that before making any decisions on any of the Steelers running backs after week 1.

I don't recall the Steelers being very positive about Mendenhall at all. Tomlin made several comments early on about Mendenhall needing to work harder (something about being in control of his own playing time, I am too lazy to look up the exact quotes) if he wanted to see the field more. And then days before the season opener Tomlin made his comments about Willie being the primary and short yardage ball carrier, which kind of implies that Mendenhall did not work harder (or perform sufficiently to see an increase in PT).He seemed like a legitimate player for Illinois but this is the same guy that couldn't beat out (NFL undrafted free agent) Pierre Thomas in the two seasons at Illinois they played together. Mendenhall has only one meaningful season of high performance in college so the truth is that we don't know much about him as a player.

I agree that it is too early to pull the plug simply because Willie might break down and even marginal talents can put up decent fantasy numbers provided they get sufficient opportunities. But until Willie gets hurt Mendenhall looks like the third option for Pittsburgh.

 

[The Hank]

I've pulled the plug. He doesn't have "it". He may not end up being a complete flameout, but it's clear to me that he's nothing special. I traded up to draft him in one dynasty rookie draft last year and ended up trading him away near the end of the season. Then I was sucked in again by the hype in the offseason and drafted him pretty high in a startup this summer. I pulled the plug in that one too, and traded away Mendy/Parker a couple days before the first game. Glad I did so. Mewelde Moore played basically the whole 2nd half, including a couple short yardage situations. It's obvious the Steelers have zero confidence in Mendy, and I don't either.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion on Mendenhall and you may be right about him, I still think it is way too early to tell.I do take exception to the bolded part of your post. The Steeler's organization has been very positive about Mendenhall this preseason. The reason Moore was in most of the 2nd half is because the Steelers were in the no-huddle offense and were throwing the ball. This is Moore's role on the team and you need to understand that before making any decisions on any of the Steelers running backs after week 1.

Out of the 3 PIT RB's, Moore is best as the receiving option; which is why he was in for the majority of the 2nd half/OT for hurry up OFF.

I think everyone is taking WAY too much stock in this ONE game, for the reasons as followed:

1. TEN has a very good DEF, even without Haynesworth. Their gap control is outstanding, and there was literally no where for the Parker/Mendy/Moore to run. Lets see how they do against the CIN's and CLE's of the world.

2. During close games, PIT gets no push off of the line for run blocking. This line is not as good as it has been in years past, whenever you could run in close games because the lines could create havoc. The line now is more tailored for pass protection, even though there were 4 sacks in this past game I think half of those could've been avoided if Ben let go of the pass/threw it away earlier and stayed in the pocket.

3. The no-huddle was working, the draw-play runs were not. During the second half it seemed like the only time we tried to run the ball was on 2nd, 3rd and short; which will hurt the RB's final numbers, albeit they were truly awful.

Let's wait and see after say week 3-4 before we pass judgment and anoint Mewelde as a starting option and regulate Mendy to the #3-4 RB on the team.

 

[Chaka]

I thought he performed very well on the play designed to run into Ben Roethlisberger.

 

[twr]

It's not so much the carries he has gotten, but also all the negative reports on him. He's been said to be slow, fumble prone, and lacking explosion into the hole. I haven't seen the slowness, because he never seems to get beyond the LOS, but the explosion to the hole or through the hole isn't there. I know he hasn't been given a heckuva lot of carries to judge on, but he just doesn't seem to have "it". Recent rookies like McCoy, Coffee, F. Jones, C. Johnson, Forte, Rice, Choice...you can just tell after watching a few carries that they are special. I can't see that with Mendy.

all four carries he either surged, juked, or had to spin just to avoid defenders in the backfield... out of all the running backs he looked like the one with the most speed, surge, and power...and the first carry was jacked up by Big Ben... regardless, all you dynasty guys are going to be sad for bailing out on him too soon.

 

[Bermuda_Chub]

He also ran very well in the preseason last year, averaging 4.1 YPC. He fumbled too often, sure, but he also looked explosive, powerful, and demonstrated some nifty moves in the hole. Ever since his foolish prediction and resulting injury, he's run bug-eyed and nervous. Case in point: running up Ben's back on his first carry against the Titans. He just needs to break that first big run, and everything will fall into place. Talent-wise, he's light years ahead of Parker at this stage in their respective careers. The back I saw tear up USC in the Rose Bowl two years ago, when the rest of his team was pathetically overmatched, did not simply go bye-the-bye. In short, giving up on Mendenhall would be one of the more moronic misreads you could make of Thursday night's action.

 

[Chaka]

and the first carry was jacked up by Big Ben...

Oh come on!With blinders like that you should be pulling a carriage through Central Park.

 

[twr]

and the first carry was jacked up by Big Ben...

Oh come on!With blinders like that you should be pulling a carriage through Central Park.

lol it was man... when a guard or tackle pulls, the QB generally opens in the direction of the pulling guard.. and spins to the other side..... basically what im saying is... he should have came out from center, circled left, and handed the ball off with his left hand.. instead he thought it was a dive play... opening left and handing off with his right hand.... no running play is ever designed to go INTO THE HOLE OF THE PULLING GUARD...the play was designed to go RIGHT... the side which mendenhall headed.

 

[treat88]

Way too early to pull the plug.

Lots of questions about him yet to be answered, but way too early.

 

[Chaka]

and the first carry was jacked up by Big Ben...

Oh come on!With blinders like that you should be pulling a carriage through Central Park.

lol it was man... when a guard or tackle pulls, the QB generally opens in the direction of the pulling guard.. and spins to the other side..... basically what im saying is... he should have came out from center, circled left, and handed the ball off with his left hand.. instead he thought it was a dive play... opening left and handing off with his right hand.... no running play is ever designed to go INTO THE HOLE OF THE PULLING GUARD...the play was designed to go RIGHT... the side which mendenhall headed.

You clearly believe it, although I consider it a bit presumptuous for anyone here to say what the professional football players "should have" done. Personally I am giving the benefit of the doubt to Big Ben over Mendenhall.

 

[twr]

and the first carry was jacked up by Big Ben...

Oh come on!With blinders like that you should be pulling a carriage through Central Park.

lol it was man... when a guard or tackle pulls, the QB generally opens in the direction of the pulling guard.. and spins to the other side..... basically what im saying is... he should have came out from center, circled left, and handed the ball off with his left hand.. instead he thought it was a dive play... opening left and handing off with his right hand.... no running play is ever designed to go INTO THE HOLE OF THE PULLING GUARD...the play was designed to go RIGHT... the side which mendenhall headed.

You clearly believe it, although I consider it a bit presumptuous for anyone here to say what the professional football players "should have" done. Personally I am giving the benefit of the doubt to Big Ben over Mendenhall.

im not assuming anything... most teams have their QB roll on pulling plays... unless its a pitch... and the play will not be designed to go LEFT (handing off with his right hand, which he was) if the left guard is pulling... UNLESS its a cutback play.

 

[Chaka]

and the first carry was jacked up by Big Ben...

Oh come on!With blinders like that you should be pulling a carriage through Central Park.

lol it was man... when a guard or tackle pulls, the QB generally opens in the direction of the pulling guard.. and spins to the other side..... basically what im saying is... he should have came out from center, circled left, and handed the ball off with his left hand.. instead he thought it was a dive play... opening left and handing off with his right hand.... no running play is ever designed to go INTO THE HOLE OF THE PULLING GUARD...the play was designed to go RIGHT... the side which mendenhall headed.

You clearly believe it, although I consider it a bit presumptuous for anyone here to say what the professional football players "should have" done. Personally I am giving the benefit of the doubt to Big Ben over Mendenhall.

im not assuming anything... most teams have their QB roll on pulling plays... unless its a pitch... and the play will not be designed to go LEFT (handing off with his right hand, which he was) if the left guard is pulling... UNLESS its a cutback play.

Sure thing coach.

 

[JuniorNB]

LOL.

The amount of knowledge in the Shark Pool is amazing. They even know individual player assignments on plays.

 

[Ozymandias]

The biggest knock on him is that the coaching staff don't seem to have much confidence in him. Here is a really big back, who outweighs Parker by 16 lbs, and they don't want to give him the ball at the goal line.

I don't think he's got it.

 

[twr]

LOL.The amount of knowledge in the Shark Pool is amazing. They even know individual player assignments on plays.

lol come on guys, it all depends on what type of play it was... if its a stretch play he wont roll... because he wont have time to make up the ground... if its a dive play, he will roll...regardless of the roll, if the guard is pulling left, the play is designed to go to the right. no question about that... which means he should have been handing off with his left hand. not his right.

 

[tdmills]

He is right.....it was Big Ben's fault. If you watched the game....after the play Big Ben tapped his chest when looking at Mendy....aka it was my fault.

 

[EBF]

I don't think he has looked very good so far, but you've got to give it some time. He doesn't have much NFL experience and he's recovering from a serious injury. As his comfort level increases, I would expect him to look a little better.

 

[Kenny Powers]

It's not so much the carries he has gotten, but also all the negative reports on him. He's been said to be slow, fumble prone, and lacking explosion into the hole. I haven't seen the slowness, because he never seems to get beyond the LOS, but the explosion to the hole or through the hole isn't there.

I know he hasn't been given a heckuva lot of carries to judge on, but he just doesn't seem to have "it". Recent rookies like McCoy, Coffee, F. Jones, C. Johnson, Forte, Rice, Choice...you can just tell after watching a few carries that they are special. I can't see that with Mendy.

This just isnt true. Anytime he's had a hole this year, he gets through it very quick and broke 6-8yard runs. There has just been so many occasions where he's been hit in the backfield or not try to move forward when nothings there, that those plays have stuck out more.When any kind of lane has been there, he has showed me why I liked him so much at Illinois. Its mostly up to the line to start giving all the PIT RB's at least a chance to do something, because most of the time they dont even have a shot at more than a yard or 2

 

[Chunky Soup]

I don't think he has looked very good so far, but you've got to give it some time. He doesn't have much NFL experience and he's recovering from a serious injury. As his comfort level increases, I would expect him to look a little better.

Can we get a now-famous EBF BMI analysis in here?

 

[twr]

im one of these crash and burn guys... every year i have two.

ryan and mendy were my guys last year. drafted mendy at 1.2, ryan at 1.5.

moreno and harvin are my guys this year. drafted moreno at 1.1, harvin at 1.4

players i thought would bust

2008 - gholston and chris johnson

2009 - crabtree and wells ... my stance has changed on wells. i still think hes as soft as Charmin but hes way too naturally talented... so i think he will be as successful as jamal lewis.

 

[Chaka]

Please don't squeeze the Beanies.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

People keep talking about how Mendenhall has "talent" that's just waiting to bust out, which I believed when he first came into the league as well. But this whole "raw talent" thing may actually be in doubt, because he certainly hasn't shown any of it in the NFL. I mean, I don't care how bad your line is, in two preseasons and a few regular season carries you'd think we'd have seen SOMETHING by now. Even if it was just one measely little run where we said "wow, that's what this guy can do". But nothing. Not one good game, not one good quarter, not even one good run really. Every single carry he's had has been followed up by fantasy football owners with "meh".

I mean, Ronnie Brown played with a line just as bad as this Pitt line when he came into the league, and we saw his talent oozing out onto the field immediately. He'd consistently break 4 tackles or make 4 guys miss just to gain 4 yards, but it would be the sexiest 4 yard run you've ever seen. We've seen nothing like that from Mendenhall. He just kind of plods forward a bit and falls over.

Yeah, he hasn't seen a lot of action in the regular season, but when it comes to searching for visible talent, preseason does count just as much. He's had plenty of carries in the NFL for us to see SOMETHING out of him. But nothing. Not once.

 

[jwb]

I personally was not impressed w/ him in college, even though he had a big year. Just something about the way he ran - I didn't see an aggressive runner. Not that I'm the best judge of talent, but I avoided him in all rookie drafts.

Then, last year, the reports from camp weren't glowing. I even seem to recall one that he couldn't get it in 4 straight times from the one yard line in a scrimmage, he was softer that most thought, etc. And from what I saw, he certainly didn't look good before he got hurt. Then this year comes around, and again, the reports from camp weren't very good, and I can't see how anyone saw something from him the other night.

He has his one college season - that's prettymuch it. He may have a few good games at some point because almost any NFL RB can put up a few good games if they get the ball enough, but I'd be surprised if he has anything more than a Ron Dayne type career.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I don't think he has looked very good so far, but you've got to give it some time. He doesn't have much NFL experience and he's recovering from a serious injury. As his comfort level increases, I would expect him to look a little better.

One of the biggest faults of pretty much every fantasy football player out there is that we hold onto hope for our guys for too long, even when the signs are clearly laid out right in front of us. Sure, sometimes it ends up working out, but more often than not those guys continue down the path they were already on.I think Mendenhall falls into this category. We can keep talking about how he's still young, still inexperienced, plays with a bad line, etc. But deep down we all know that things look very, very bad for him, and every single one of us has been very unimpressed by everything we've seen so far. I would get value for him while I still could, if I owned him.

 

[Pimpin Ain't Easy]

LOL.The amount of knowledge in the Shark Pool is amazing. They even know individual player assignments on plays.

lol come on guys, it all depends on what type of play it was... if its a stretch play he wont roll... because he wont have time to make up the ground... if its a dive play, he will roll...regardless of the roll, if the guard is pulling left, the play is designed to go to the right. no question about that... which means he should have been handing off with his left hand. not his right.

You are right on the money. You have to remember though that not everyone here has actually played football before. They just know it all from the lazy boy.Everyone wants to dump on Mendenhall for that play. Ben was standing in the hole.

 

[Debeucci]

LOL.The amount of knowledge in the Shark Pool is amazing. They even know individual player assignments on plays.

lol come on guys, it all depends on what type of play it was... if its a stretch play he wont roll... because he wont have time to make up the ground... if its a dive play, he will roll...regardless of the roll, if the guard is pulling left, the play is designed to go to the right. no question about that... which means he should have been handing off with his left hand. not his right.

You are right on the money. You have to remember though that not everyone here has actually played football before. They just know it all from the lazy boy.Everyone wants to dump on Mendenhall for that play. Ben was standing in the hole.

He's the new cedric benson....Funny thing, my coworker was one of his lineman in high school. All he can talk about his how great Rashard is and how I should draft him.Glad I didn't drink the coolaid.

 

[az_prof]

He's a lottery ticket. You're waiting for Parker to get hut or benched, if you took Mendenhall in a redraft. Nothing I saw Thursday night would change my opinion of him. I don't know how you can be quick to judge a first round running back who has had fewer than 25 career carries.On October 1st of his second season Willis McGahee had 11 carries for 28 yards. And he also was the 23rd pick in the draft. You need to give an elite RB at least 100-300 carries before you can make any judgments. Making a call on him after 20 carries is insane, IMO.

The comparison to McGahee is way off base. First, McGahee didn't do anything his first season because he was coming off of a devasting knee injury in college. But beyond that, they are very different backs. Mendenhall had a chance last season, didn't do anything, and then got hurt. Now he is in second year and hasn't shown much in preseason or in this first game. It IS too early to give up hope, but his value is falling quickly. And it is more than statistics: I just don't like the way he runs.

 

[finfansteve]

I dont see anything special about him and obviously the steelers dont either or they would be using him.

 

[Godsbrother]

I don't recall the Steelers being very positive about Mendenhall at all. Tomlin made several comments early on about Mendenhall needing to work harder (something about being in control of his own playing time, I am too lazy to look up the exact quotes) if he wanted to see the field more. And then days before the season opener Tomlin made his comments about Willie being the primary and short yardage ball carrier, which kind of implies that Mendenhall did not work harder (or perform sufficiently to see an increase in PT).

This is what Tomlin said less than two weeks ago. Do you think his position on Mendenhall has radically changed after 4 carries last Thursday. especially when his other backs averaged less than 2 ypc as well? The Steelers may give up on Mendenall some day but they are going to give him a lot more than 20 career NFL carries before they do.

Rashard Mendenhall: Tomlin happy with Mendenhall's production

Rashard Mendenhall - RB - PIT - Aug. 31 - 9:41 am et

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he's "not displeased in any way" with Rashard Mendenhall's contributions this preseason.

"He's decisive with the football, he's running downhill, he's finishing runs violently," Tomlin said of last year's first-rounder. He also excused Mendenhall's fumble and low yards per carry against Buffalo, blaming the fumble on the offensive line and the 3.0 YPC on a refusal to alter the game plan. Aug. 31 - 9:41 am et

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

 

[SSOG]

I don't think he has looked very good so far, but you've got to give it some time. He doesn't have much NFL experience and he's recovering from a serious injury. As his comfort level increases, I would expect him to look a little better.

One of the biggest faults of pretty much every fantasy football player out there is that we hold onto hope for our guys for too long, even when the signs are clearly laid out right in front of us. Sure, sometimes it ends up working out, but more often than not those guys continue down the path they were already on.I think Mendenhall falls into this category. We can keep talking about how he's still young, still inexperienced, plays with a bad line, etc. But deep down we all know that things look very, very bad for him, and every single one of us has been very unimpressed by everything we've seen so far. I would get value for him while I still could, if I owned him.

Another of the biggest faults of pretty much every fantasy football player out there is that they cut bait on their guys too quickly if they feel they've been burned, even when the verdict is still out. Sure, sometimes it ends up working out, but more often than not those guys continue down the path they were drafted to go down.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I don't think he has looked very good so far, but you've got to give it some time. He doesn't have much NFL experience and he's recovering from a serious injury. As his comfort level increases, I would expect him to look a little better.

One of the biggest faults of pretty much every fantasy football player out there is that we hold onto hope for our guys for too long, even when the signs are clearly laid out right in front of us. Sure, sometimes it ends up working out, but more often than not those guys continue down the path they were already on.I think Mendenhall falls into this category. We can keep talking about how he's still young, still inexperienced, plays with a bad line, etc. But deep down we all know that things look very, very bad for him, and every single one of us has been very unimpressed by everything we've seen so far. I would get value for him while I still could, if I owned him.

Another of the biggest faults of pretty much every fantasy football player out there is that they cut bait on their guys too quickly if they feel they've been burned, even when the verdict is still out. Sure, sometimes it ends up working out, but more often than not those guys continue down the path they were drafted to go down.

Everyone has their own experiences, but I don't see this at all. Not in the leagues I've been in, not in these forums, not anywhere really. Especially when you're talking about guys people spent relatively high picks on, people have a tendency to hold onto them no matter what, thinking it will get better.If you look at threads like these, I get the impression that the number of people in the thread that are holding onto the guy outweighs the number of people that have unloaded him by about 90/10. Right or wrong, people almost always hold onto these guys for long periods of time. It took 5 years for people to finally give up on Kevin Jones.

 

[SSOG]

Everyone has their own experiences, but I don't see this at all. Not in the leagues I've been in, not in these forums, not anywhere really. Especially when you're talking about guys people spent relatively high picks on, people have a tendency to hold onto them no matter what, thinking it will get better.If you look at threads like these, I get the impression that the number of people in the thread that are holding onto the guy outweighs the number of people that have unloaded him by about 90/10. Right or wrong, people almost always hold onto these guys for long periods of time. It took 5 years for people to finally give up on Kevin Jones.

It's not just a question of what percentage of guys given up on wind up becoming studs... it's a question of magnitude, too. If I have 10 guys who have been complete disappointments, and I hold them all, and 9 of them turn into Kevin Jones, but one turns into DeAngelo Williams, then I call that a winning gamble.Edit: And for what it's worth, I still haven't given up on Kevin Jones.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Everyone has their own experiences, but I don't see this at all. Not in the leagues I've been in, not in these forums, not anywhere really. Especially when you're talking about guys people spent relatively high picks on, people have a tendency to hold onto them no matter what, thinking it will get better.If you look at threads like these, I get the impression that the number of people in the thread that are holding onto the guy outweighs the number of people that have unloaded him by about 90/10. Right or wrong, people almost always hold onto these guys for long periods of time. It took 5 years for people to finally give up on Kevin Jones.

It's not just a question of what percentage of guys given up on wind up becoming studs... it's a question of magnitude, too. If I have 10 guys who have been complete disappointments, and I hold them all, and 9 of them turn into Kevin Jones, but one turns into DeAngelo Williams, then I call that a winning gamble.

Not if by holding onto those other 9 guys you gave up enough value to have traded for Adrian Peterson, MJD, and Drew Brees

 

[EBF]

I don't think he has looked very good so far, but you've got to give it some time. He doesn't have much NFL experience and he's recovering from a serious injury. As his comfort level increases, I would expect him to look a little better.

One of the biggest faults of pretty much every fantasy football player out there is that we hold onto hope for our guys for too long, even when the signs are clearly laid out right in front of us. Sure, sometimes it ends up working out, but more often than not those guys continue down the path they were already on.I think Mendenhall falls into this category. We can keep talking about how he's still young, still inexperienced, plays with a bad line, etc. But deep down we all know that things look very, very bad for him, and every single one of us has been very unimpressed by everything we've seen so far. I would get value for him while I still could, if I owned him.

I think anyone who's giving up on him now is jumping the gun. Has he looked good? Not particularly. Has he looked so bad that he has no hope of ever becoming a solid NFL player? I don't think so. He's 22 years old with 23 regular season carries under his belt. I'd like to see a little more of him before I decide whether or not he's garbage. He hasn't impressed me very much so far, but he has shown some flashes and I still haven't seen enough of him to reach a verdict. Bear in mind that the Steelers are not a good run blocking team right now. Willie Parker has a career YPC average of 4.3. He averaged 1.5 YPC on Thursday night. Mewelde Moore has a career YPC average of 4.6. He averaged 1.6 YPC on Thursday night. The entire running game was stuck in neutral, so the fact that Mendenhall struggled on a few carries doesn't seem very significant. The Titans took away the run on Thursday. The Steelers passed at will. There will probably be games where it's the other way around and all of the RBs on the roster look dynamite. I think Mendenhall needs to show something this season, but I don't think this game (or his preseason) really told us much about his long term prospects. Hopefully he will get an opportunity to carry it 15-20 times in a game this season so we can see what he's capable of when he's in a rhythm.

 

[Chaka]

I don't recall the Steelers being very positive about Mendenhall at all. Tomlin made several comments early on about Mendenhall needing to work harder (something about being in control of his own playing time, I am too lazy to look up the exact quotes) if he wanted to see the field more. And then days before the season opener Tomlin made his comments about Willie being the primary and short yardage ball carrier, which kind of implies that Mendenhall did not work harder (or perform sufficiently to see an increase in PT).

This is what Tomlin said less than two weeks ago. Do you think his position on Mendenhall has radically changed after 4 carries last Thursday. especially when his other backs averaged less than 2 ypc as well? The Steelers may give up on Mendenall some day but they are going to give him a lot more than 20 career NFL carries before they do.

Rashard Mendenhall: Tomlin happy with Mendenhall's production

Rashard Mendenhall - RB - PIT - Aug. 31 - 9:41 am et

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he's "not displeased in any way" with Rashard Mendenhall's contributions this preseason.

"He's decisive with the football, he's running downhill, he's finishing runs violently," Tomlin said of last year's first-rounder. He also excused Mendenhall's fumble and low yards per carry against Buffalo, blaming the fumble on the offensive line and the 3.0 YPC on a refusal to alter the game plan. Aug. 31 - 9:41 am et

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Thanks for this. I forgot about that comment, although being sandwiched between the negative comments from the off season and the proclamation that Willie is the man certainly take the shine off a little bit.And no I don't think anything happened on Thursday to change Tomlin's opinion. I would suggest giving Mendenhall at least until after week 6 before making any decisions about dropping him. If he doesn't manage to produce after six games including back-to-back games @DET and v CLE then it may be time to cut bait on him in a redraft.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

I don't think he has looked very good so far, but you've got to give it some time. He doesn't have much NFL experience and he's recovering from a serious injury. As his comfort level increases, I would expect him to look a little better.

One of the biggest faults of pretty much every fantasy football player out there is that we hold onto hope for our guys for too long, even when the signs are clearly laid out right in front of us. Sure, sometimes it ends up working out, but more often than not those guys continue down the path they were already on.I think Mendenhall falls into this category. We can keep talking about how he's still young, still inexperienced, plays with a bad line, etc. But deep down we all know that things look very, very bad for him, and every single one of us has been very unimpressed by everything we've seen so far. I would get value for him while I still could, if I owned him.

I think anyone who's giving up on him now is jumping the gun. Has he looked good? Not particularly. Has he looked so bad that he has no hope of ever becoming a solid NFL player? I don't think so. He's 22 years old with 23 regular season carries under his belt. I'd like to see a little more of him before I decide whether or not he's garbage. He hasn't impressed me very much so far, but he has shown some flashes and I still haven't seen enough of him to reach a verdict. Bear in mind that the Steelers are not a good run blocking team right now. Willie Parker has a career YPC average of 4.3. He averaged 1.5 YPC on Thursday night. Mewelde Moore has a career YPC average of 4.6. He averaged 1.6 YPC on Thursday night. The entire running game was stuck in neutral, so the fact that Mendenhall struggled on a few carries doesn't seem very significant. The Titans took away the run on Thursday. The Steelers passed at will. There will probably be games where it's the other way around and all of the RBs on the roster look dynamite. I think Mendenhall needs to show something this season, but I don't think this game (or his preseason) really told us much about his long term prospects. Hopefully he will get an opportunity to carry it 15-20 times in a game this season so we can see what he's capable of when he's in a rhythm.

Like I said though, it's not just about this game, not even close. I don't see why people are intent on ignoring the preseason here. When we're talking about evaluating a player's visible talent, a preseason carry is every bit as good as a regular season carry. I've seen Mendenhall carry the ball 109 times in the pros, and not one single time did I see anything that indicated anything beyond even average talent, or really anything that indicated even that much. I don't care about the weak O-line excuse. You can see talent through a weak offensive line, even if it doesn't always translate into huge production. That hasn't been there for Mendenhall, not once in 109 carries.Yeah, you can say "we need to see more" all you want, but by then it will be too late. Mendenhall still carries decent value in dynasty leagues, wait too long and you could end up with nothing.

 

[Chaka]

People keep talking about how Mendenhall has "talent" that's just waiting to bust out, which I believed when he first came into the league as well. But this whole "raw talent" thing may actually be in doubt, because he certainly hasn't shown any of it in the NFL. I mean, I don't care how bad your line is, in two preseasons and a few regular season carries you'd think we'd have seen SOMETHING by now. Even if it was just one measely little run where we said "wow, that's what this guy can do". But nothing. Not one good game, not one good quarter, not even one good run really. Every single carry he's had has been followed up by fantasy football owners with "meh".I mean, Ronnie Brown played with a line just as bad as this Pitt line when he came into the league, and we saw his talent oozing out onto the field immediately. He'd consistently break 4 tackles or make 4 guys miss just to gain 4 yards, but it would be the sexiest 4 yard run you've ever seen. We've seen nothing like that from Mendenhall. He just kind of plods forward a bit and falls over.Yeah, he hasn't seen a lot of action in the regular season, but when it comes to searching for visible talent, preseason does count just as much. He's had plenty of carries in the NFL for us to see SOMETHING out of him. But nothing. Not once.

But...but...but...he surged and juked all over the place on Thursday.