Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall was a surprise slide down the draft boards over the weekend. A development that was fashioned on rumors of Isaac Redman getting goal-line carries. And those fears became a confounded reality when coach Mike Tomlin announc…
rashard mendenhall
In less than 48 hours, real, NFL football returns. Oh, how I have missed you. I’m sure that you have your fantasy football team in tip-top shape, ready to go for the season, but before you call it the total package, I have some names for your watch list. I’m doing this in place of [...]
Filed under: NFL Injury Report, NFL Start ‘Em Sit ‘EmDennis Dixon learned on Monday that he will be the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers while Ben Roethlisberger is serving his four-week suspension.
Dixon was the easy choice as a repla…
A quick look at some of the stories on the radar on Tuesday.
This is what I get for being so high on Steelers WR Mike Wallace. Second-year QB Dennis Dixon could end up starting for the Steelers in the wake of Byron Leftwich’s knee injury. Leftwich went to the hospital for an MRI.
Filed under: Draft AdviceLast season the New York Giants backfield did a lot of sharing. Brandon Jacobs carried the ball 224 times while Ahmad Bradshaw got it 163 times. Jacobs rushed for 835 yards and Bradshaw 778, but those are the only two spots whe…
Filed under: Draft Advice, 2010 Team PreviewsFanHouse is knocking out your fantasy football 2010 team previews one day at a time. With the new season on the horizon, we’re covering all 32 potential champions.
Meet the …
New quarterback. Where’s Ben …
The Cut-N-Go is back to keep you up-to-date on all the NFL news that affects the upcoming fantasy football season.
I’m probably one of the few people out there that’s not considering spending a top-20 pick on Rashard Mendenhall. We expect the Steeler…
Filed under: NFL Position Rankings, Draft Advice, NFL Value MachineFanHouse recently broke the running back position down into five components, ranking each running back’s upside, downside, injury history, performance history and strength of schedule o…
Filed under: NFL Sleepers, Draft AdviceFanHouse hosted its first fantasy football mock draft of 2010, a 12-team, 15-round setup. League rules require a starting lineup of: one QB, two RBs, three WRs, one TE, one Flex, one K and one DEF, with five bench…
Filed under: Draft AdviceWhen we talked about the upside and downside that exists for each player, we took injury out of the equation. In a perfect world, where you can turn player injuries off like you’re playing Madden, how good and bad could each pl…
Filed under: Draft AdviceIn the first part of our series breaking down the running back position for 2010, we looked just at the fantasy upside of each important running back in the league, attempting to unearth sleepers by projecting what could be in …
In fantasy circles, the question surrounding the loss of Willie Colon is whether it will hurt the value of Rashard Mendenhall.
If Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is on the board in the second half of the first round in fantasy drafts, there’s no reason not to take him.
FANTASY SPORTS SOURCE: Stories for All
Jonathan Dywer won’t unseat Rashard Mendenhall, but he could be his fantasy handcuff in 2010.
Much like his image off the field, the fantasy appeal of Ben Roethlisberger is falling fast.
Santonio Holmes, now a member of the Jets, faces a four-game suspension and a major decrease in fantasy appeal. 
Willie Parker reportedly is taking a strong stance against the Steelers, and it stems from feeling unappreciated.
Filed under: Dynasty Diaries, NFL New Studs
In a word, Rashard Mendenhall‘s rookie campaign was disappointing. The 2008 first-round pick received just 19 carries in his first season — 10 in the first game of the season and nine in the fourth game before hitting the Injured Reserve list and missing the rest of the season. It appeared the breakout would have to wait.
Mendenhall started this season in the same fashion, receiving only seven carries in the first two games of 2009 and none in the third. Week 4 was the complete other side of the spectrum, with the second-year player earning 29 carries, gaining 165 yards (more than he accumulated in all games over that first year-plus) and scoring two TDs. From that performance, a fantasy star was born.
He went on to earn double-digit carries in every game the rest of way, wrestling the starting role from Willie Parker for good and setting himself up to be a highly sought-after RB1 next season. Which rookie backs have the chops to follow the Mendenhall path to greatness?
We’ll certainly see a big season from Arizona’s Chris Wells, but unlike Mendenhall, Wells has already begun his rise to dominance, leaving scorch marks on the fantasy competition over the last half of his rookie season. Philadelphia’s LeSean McCoy should also see a big rise in value with the Eagles not expected to retain Brian Westbrook. Let’s look a little deeper and try to find some players that have their version of Willie Parker blocking their ascension.
Filed under: NFL Value Machine
Unlike many years, there wasn’t a huge RB disappointment in the first round. Sure, you weren’t happy about your Matt Forte pick, but he did finish the season as the No. 17 running back. Your Michael Turner pick may have killed you, but his bustdom was tied to his injury woes — when he did play, he was actually quite good. You don’t consider Ronnie Brown a bust, do you?
So who exactly are we considering for “zero” status? Anyone that was still alive in Weeks 14-16 and played the waiver wire like a fiddle already has an arm-length list for RB Heroes. Several of our non-playoff teams were toting Turner or Forte … but I’ll look past that duo to find ball-carriers whose problem wasn’t not doing much — it was doing nothing at all.
Filed under: NFL Value Machine, NFL Stash or Trash, NFL Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em
Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse’s weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.
It all started with an innocent comment by Browns left tackle Joe Thomas.
Canton Repository writer Steve Doerschuk reported earlier this week that Eric Mangini liked Thomas’ idea of turning Joshua Cribbs into conventional running back, instead of just using him in Wildcat formations. However, Mangini later backpedaled a bit.
The Steelers made it a one possession game, but the sacks keep coming. We’ve got another Thursday night game that should come down to the end.
Filed under: NFL Position Rankings
Just when it was starting to look as if Larry Johnson might be a useful fantasy player for the first time in years, Cedric Benson swooped back in and reclaimed the role of workhorse running back for the Bengals.
After missing two sweet matchups against Cleveland and Oakland, Benson returned in Week 13 to another solid matchup against the Lions and received 36 carries in the win. Talk about not holding anything back. A touchdown or two would have capped the marvelous day, but owners can’t complain about a 125-yard performance from a guy they didn’t even know they’d have.
This week Benson faces the much tougher task of running on the Minnesota Vikings and the Williams Wall. With Cincinnati back to handing Benson 30-plus carries, you likely need to keep starting him, even in the bad matchup this game presents.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said earlier this week WR Hines Ward was “very questionable” for the upcoming game against the Browns, and on Tuesday the team’s leading receiver was held out of practice. 
Filed under: NFL Injury Report
Quarterback
o. Jay Cutler, Bears – The team confirmed on Monday that Cutler’s hand injury was not serious and that he will be the starting quarterback in Week 14. His hand was injured on a play when Leonard Little made contact with the Bears quarterback.
o. Mark Sanchez, Jets – Sanchez sprained his PCL in last Thursday’s game and was held out of practice on Monday. He is expected to play in Week 14.
o. Kurt Warner, Cardinals – Warner was seen limping during Arizona’s Sunday night victory and the team is calling his injury a hip pointer. The team expects that he’ll be able to play in Week 14.
This week either means the world to you or doesn’t matter at all. It’s an interesting part of fantasy football. Few will panic over their lineup this week unless they are on the edge of a playoff seat. Those of you who have secured a playoff birth are probably just riding most of the same [...]
Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks. You should pause for a moment and think of all the players you have to thank for getting you where your fantasy team is today.
Thank you, Terrell Owens, for going off the week we finally gave up on starting you. Thanks so much for being worthless just long [...]
