It's easy to go over the top with optimism or pessimism about any draft, but it's rarely as good or as bad as we think it could be.  I’m going to try to give a tempered analysis of the players we drafted, hopefully helping us understand why we made some picks and keeping our expectations at a rational level.

Round one: Rashard Mendenhall 5’10, 225. 4.45 40, 26 BP

Strengths: Mendenhall is a violent runner with a great stiff arm who can break tackles and run over safeties. He has good vision and is tough and decisive between the tackles. He is a hard worker, a competitor, and a team player. He is a natural receiver out of the backfield and has good speed for his size. He was very productive in college despite not having a lot of talent around him (1999yds, 19tds, 6.4 ypc), and has never missed a game due to injury (296 touches last year).

Weaknesses: The first thing I noticed from watching highlight videos of him is that he holds the ball rather loosely (looks like VY). I can’t find any college fumble stats on him, but if he doesn’t learn to protect the ball and switch hands, he will have a problem with ball security in the NFL, especially when he fights for yards with linebackers. He’s only a 1 year starter and played in a spread offense out of the shotgun a lot, which makes it harder to be certain about him, although it may lengthen his career. He doesn’t have FWP breakaway speed, and sometimes tries to run over tacklers instead of eluding them. 

Mendenhall is a tough, hard-working back, but can he hold onto the football?

Analysis: Jonathan Stewart is more pro-ready than Mendenhall, but Mendenhall is a very solid back and his vision sets him apart from later round RB's. Ball security is my biggest pet peeve with young skill players (see also Holmes, Santonio), but Mendenhall seems to have a competitive desire and may be able to correct this problem in time. A lack of work ethic and injuries are usually the harbingers of a bust, so he looks like a relatively low-risk pick.  He certainly has a lot of upside and complements FWP's skills well. 

Parker proved all his critics wrong, but he finally proved to himself last year that he can’t run 400 times in a season, and he even asked for some help in the backfield. With Mendenhall in the mix, we should have 2 relatively healthy RB’s toward the end of the season, instead of one yard runs by Najeh all day. Also, if Arians ever decides to call some short pass plays, he has a couple of good options out of the backfield. 

Passed on: DE’s Kentwaan Balmer, Phillip Merling, CB Mike Jenkins

All value at OT was gone with 7 OT’s taken before our pick. Merling wouldn’t have been a great fit in the 3-4, although that didn’t stop the Dolphins from drafting him. The knock on Jenkins is that he can’t catch the ball, and we already have a couple CB’s that can’t catch, so I can see why we would pass. Balmer would have been a decent pick that filled a need, but Mendenhall is simply a much better player. 

This pick was a great value and filled a very real need, albeit not our biggest one.  I'd rather have had Chris Williams fall to us, but we don't get to pick which great deals we're offered.

Who is Rashard Mendenhall? We all know his name, but we didn't spend much time discussing him here at The Curtain because, well, we didn't think it likely he'd even be available. But with NFL teams unloading the vast majority of their first round drafting capital on defensive talent and the outstanding tier one group of offensive tackles, the Steelers found themselves looking at a draft board that included Mendenhall.

Pittsburgh pounced and the team gets a premier talent in the first round that most fans weren't expecting. More on why I like the move in a moment, but first, a little background on the tailback from Illinois.

Rashard Mendenhall enters the NFL after three seasons of college ball. As a true freshman, he saw action on a bad offensive team, rushing 48 times for 218 yards - 4.5 per carry. He took a big leap forward as a sophomore, upping his yards per attempt to an eye-popping 8.2 yards per attempt. However, the Illini grossly underutilized their emerging star and Mendenhall finished with 640 yards on only 78 carries, including 5 touchdowns.

Finally, in Mendenhall's junior season, he became the feature of the offense, exploding for 1,681 yards on 262 carries, including 17 touchdowns. For good measure, Mendenhall caught 34 passes out of the backfield, picking up 318 yards and 2 more touchdowns. By season's end, he'd helped lead his team to the Rose Bowl and been named the Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year.

If you're the scout-y type, you'll love the reviews of this kid :

Has an athletic build with good muscular definition, big biceps, firm midsection and hips, thick thighs and calves...More quick than fast...Has excellent agility and balance through the rush lane...Tough, competitive athlete who has played behind some very average offensive lines, having to create a lot on his own...Instinctive runner with a good feel for the cutback lanes, doing a good job of setting up his moves in attempts to elude...Studies the game and, unlike most running backs, he has a good blue-collar work ethic...Shows good courage challenging bigger defenders and runs with a pitter-patter style...Makes good decisions and precise cuts into the hole, as he moves on the snap with no hesitation...Has good instincts, setting up and using his blocks well and has the vision to avoid and create on the move...Slides through the smallest of creases and knows how to get "skinny" and get through the spaces...Has the vision that lets him see things most backs don't...

As far as negatives, there aren't many. His top end speed isn't going to be the tops in the NFL, but Pittsburgh's need at tailback involves a reliable between-the-tackles runner. FWP, who certainly doesn't lack top speed, isn't an ideal inside runner, though he's been effective enough to be a terrific everydown back.

The bottom line is that when Pittsburgh found itself drafting, the best player on the board was an outstanding, muscular running back. Rashard Mendenhall was perhaps not our expected draftee. But given the situation, I'm inclined to think he was the right one.

MENDENHALL AROUND THE WEB

Mendenhall on YouTube

Mendenhall Illinois Player Page

Mendenhall Wiki

Mendenhall at the NFL Combine