Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall unlikely for next season due to ACL – NFL News
The Pittsburgh Steelers are doubtful about the chances of their running back, Rashard Mendenhall, making it to their squad in the 2012 National Football League (NFL) season, which begins in September this year.
Mendenhall is with an ACL injury and there is no guarantee if he is able to recover well before the team’s training camp and then joining the side for the next year’s league run.
Steelers’ general manager, Kevin Colbert, said that the team was not counting on the player during the next season. He expected that he might be back to the side during the next (2013) season.
The player tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in Steelers game against the Cleveland Browns on January 01, 2012, which marked the end of their past season run.
He is in recovery since then and there is no final timeline of him being fully fit and ready to play football again, possibly in the next season.
Their GM has expressed of similar reservations given the reason that ACL injuries consume more time on healing and recovery.
“I never feel good about an ACL for a year,” he said. “No more than we are for any other position. Our young backup contributors did a nice job.”
The team has option in the form of Isaac Redman, John Clay, Baron Batch and Jonathan Dwyer. Isaac has played for the team as a replacement for Mendenhall at occasions and performed effectively well.
Mendenhall’s injury comes as the latest scare for the team, which had been confronted with the problem of fitness of their quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger missed a game during the later part of the season due to a hamstring injury and performed far below than his potential in last three games he played with the injury.
The issues had affected Steelers’ performance to some extent in the season and they finally ended their season’s run on the loss of their wild card game to the Denver Broncos.
Before being hit by the injuries they stood a chance for finishing atop the American Football Conference (AFC) North division, with the possibility of winning the divisional title.
Their surprised loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the game which the Big Ben played with a dismal form ruined their chances and hopes of the title, which were already on edge due to the tiebreaker advantage that went to their archrivals, the Baltimore Ravens.
Roethlisberger’s injury affected his performance in their last two games of the regular season and then the wild card game and the player finished his run of the season while carrying the injury.
Unlike Mendenhall, he is reported to be fit now and will be joining his team during next season later this year.
Mendenhall in the meantime can just hope that he is able to recover before the start of the season to win the possibility of him playing again.
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