The Pittsburgh Steelers are keeping expectations low for running back Rashard Mendenhall after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the team's regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns.
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But although Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert is preparing for Mendenhall to start the year on the physically unable to perform list, he expects the running back to see the field in 2012.
"To clarify, what I said was I never think players coming off an ACL are 100 percent for a full year. It doesn't mean they can't play," Colbert said Sunday in advance of the NFL Annual Meeting, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "At some point, we'll have Rashard back. I'm confident of that."
Mendenhall ran for 928 yards last season on 228 carries, his lightest workload and output since becoming a full-time starter in 2009.
The running back is entering the final year of his rookie contract signed in 2008.
