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When news broke of Pittsburgh Steelers' All Pro RB Le'Veon Bell being lost for the season due to a torn MCL in his right knee, the initial reaction was shock and awe. As fans kept reading, they saw the team has already filled Bell's spot on the roster with a man named Isaiah Pead. This reaction was, "Who?!". Let us shine some light on the newest addition o the Steelers' roster.
Pead is a 5-foot 10-inch 200-pound running back who played his college football for the University of Cincinnati. While at Cincinnati, he put up decent numbers through 2008 and 2011. In those three seasons he was able to gain 3,288 rushing yards on 545 carries with 27 touchdowns. In 2011 he was named the Big East offensive player of the year.
Declaring himself eligible for the NFL Draft in 2012, his pre-draft measurables were solid, highlighted by a 4.47 40-yard dash time. It was all good enough to have him drafted in the second round by the St. Louis Rams. His rookie season Pead played in 15 games, with 10 rushes for 54 yards. In 2013, after missing the first game of the season due to a suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy, Pead appeared in 10 games rushing for 21 yards on 7 attempts.
In 2014, in the Rams' second preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, Pead tore his ACL on a kickoff return which ended his 2014 season. He started the 2015 season off with St. Louis, but was released and made him available to come to Pittsburgh.
Pead will now join DeAngelo Williams, Dri Archer and Jordan Todman in the Steelers' backfield, but his skill set, and ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, certainly could help the Steelers fill the void left by No. 26 for the rest of the 2015 season.
Mike Tomlin will address the media as usual on Tuesday at 12 p.m. EDT, and will certainly talk about how the team plans on using Pead moving forward into the second half of the season.