"The loss of Frank Summers to the San Diego Chargers and the possible loss of free agent Mewelde Moore shines a light on the Steelers halfback position. They are down to just three -- workhorse Rashard Mendenhall and two young backs, Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer (they also signed former Kansas State back James Johnson recently to a futures contract). But then, you can find a good back almost anywhere, and the Steelers have been proof of that for 30 years. Runners might not be easy to keep for a long time because of injuries and age and how it can sap the talent right out of a good back, such as what happened to Once Fast Willie Parker, but finding them is not difficult. We are not speaking about great running backs, those like Jim Brown and, yes, O.J. Simpson, but merely good ones. Tom Donahoe, former Steelers director of football operations, famously said once that wide receivers were a dime a dozen and he, too, was not talking about the great ones. He meant good, solid, every-day wide receivers. You can almost put running backs in that category as well. Take the Steelers. Can anyone remember when they did not have a good running back for a long period, two or three years? Since the 1970s, they have not gone long at all without a quality NFL running back and their performance through the years shows that. They have had some better than others, like Hall of Famer Franco Harris and Hall of Fame finalist Jerome Bettis, but they've never lined up with bad running backs. You could argue that in the late 1980s and early '90s they were a little confused about the position. They drafted Tim Worley on the first round in 1989 and Merril Hoge on the 11th in 1987 and their philosophy was so messed up on offense that often they misused both. And then Worley pursued the illegal substance path and that was that for him. Hoge was a good back on some bad teams. Another in that category was Frank Pollard in the early to mid-1980s. Pollard was a good back on many mediocre teams and practically salvaged the Steelers bread-and-butter running game after Harris left and Walter Abercrombie did not live up to expectations. Between Harris and Mendenhall, the Steelers best running backs came almost as an afterthought. Pollard (1980) and Hoge were drafted in the 11th round. Barry Foster was drafted in the fifth round in 1990. Earnest Jackson was picked up in a trade for virtually nothing. Same with Jerome Bettis. John L. Williams was signed for a song as a free agent. Willie Parker was undrafted as was fullback Dan Kreider. Between Harris and Mendenhall, the Steelers drafted three backs on the first round and none reached 1,000 yards rushing -- Greg Hawthorne (1979), Walter Abercrombie (1982) and Worley (1989). Hawthorne and Worley were relative busts." Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11051/1126435-66.stm
