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Upon receiving word Broncos running back Montee Ball suffered a "significant groin injury," according to the Denver Post via The Mile High Report, they went shopping for a new running back.
Ex-Steelers RB LaRod Stephens-Howling reportedly had a tryout with the team Tuesday, but left the team's facility in Dove Valley without a contract.
Stephens-Howling last played with the Steelers in the preseason and took part in their Week 1 loss to Tennessee in 2013. He suffered a torn ACL and was placed on injured-reserve. With just a one-year contract, Stephens-Howling was a free agent and the team elected not to re-sign the veteran Johnstown, Pa., product.
The dismal state of the Steelers' running game in 2013 appears to be a distant memory now, only one season after being in one of the bleakest states the power-running-noted franchise has experienced since the 1960s. The team would release Jonathan Dwyer after training camp in 2013, the team's leading rusher in 2012, in addition to letting its leading rusher in 2011, Rashard Mendenhall, leave via free agency. Both ended up finding little success in Arizona and Mendenhall is retired now while Dwyer faces felony domestic-abuse charges.
Stephens-Howling was pulled into service after an ineffective Isaac Redman couldn't produce much, but he suffered the knee injury in the second half. He reportedly had a tryout with his old running backs coach, Kirby Wilson, with the Minnesota Vikings this off-season, but nothing came from it. His knee apparently has recovered enough to at least earn a tryout, although the team didn't sign him or ex-Lions RB Mikel LeShoure, who also worked out Tuesday for the Broncos.
Mile High Report noted the Broncos will likely go with the triumvirate of Ronnie Hillman, C.J. Anderson and Juwan Thompson in Ball's absence.