I was thinking out-loud to myself the other day and was wondering if this is the season the Steelers let their best running back become a star or not.  “Fast Willie” and he is fast, turned into a pretty good running back until the Steelers would get to the 10 yard line and take him out of the game.  But their is no Jerome Bettis to put in now and no back on the roster currently has the skill set that Bettis had, so why not just let Parker try it….they might be surprised at the results.  Parker bursted on the scene last season and rushed for 1,202 yards leading the Steelers on the way to their fifth Super-Bowl championship.  Parker has played in 23 games in his career (15 starts) and has rushed for 1,388 yards (4.8 ypc) and 4 TDs.  He also has caught 21 passes for 234 yards (11.1 avg.) with a TD catch.

Verron Haynes stepped up a little last season and actually pushed Duce Staley into street clothes on most game days.  Haynes has never started a game for the Steelers, but he has the toughness to maybe get some of those carries that went to Bettis last season.  Haynes has played in 53 games and has rushed for 660 yards (4.2 ypc) and scored 3 TDs rushing.  Haynes has also caught 39 passes for 322 yards and two TDs.

Duce Staley has slipped quite a bit from his glory days in Philly.  Staley one played in five games last season (1 start) and only rushed for 148 yards (1 TD) and only caught six passes for 34 yards.  Staley has had a long decent career, but there doesn’t seem to be that much tread on the tires left.  Staley has played in 113 games (75 starts) in his career and has rushed for 5,785 yards (4.0 ypc) for 24 TDs.  He has also caught 287 passes for 2,587 yards (9.0 avg.) for 10 TDs.

It will be interesting to see who gets the carries inside the 10 yard line this season, and who will be the #1 back-up for “Fast Willie”.  The darkhorse could be 7th round pick Cedric Humes, who is a big back with the nose for the goal-line.