Ex-Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall Calls Himself '" Great In Football"; Tired Of "Fans Talking Trash"

Former Pittsburgh Steelers running back, Rashard Mendenhall has made headlines quite a few times since he was selected in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. During his five seasons with the team, he took a lot of heat for his tendency to fumble the ball, including during Super Bowl XLV. While he did have some solid seasons with the Steelers, he never quite became the running back that was expected when he was drafted out of the University of Illinois. He is also known for making numerous inflammatory statements and his most recent one might be the most despicable one yet. 

Recently, Mendenhall took to X (formally known as Twitter), to announce that he hates white football players. He also said that he feels there should be a segregated game.   

"I'm sick of average white guys commenting on football. Y'all not even good at football. Can we please replace the Pro Bowl with an All-Black vs. All-White bowl so these cats can stop trying to teach me who's good at football. I'm better than ur goat," tweeted Mendenhall.

It is not a surprise that his comments drew immediate outrage from nearly everyone who saw it. The majority feel that Mendenhall suffers from CTE from his days of playing and worry that he is not getting the help that is needed. 

In typical Mendenhall fashion, one nasty comment wasn't enough for him. He went back to X after receiving tweets that vacillated between disgust and questions about his mental health, to defend himself.

"Simply tired of being berated by people who aren't experts in de game. We jus pretend like I'm the only athlete tired of fans talking trash? You dis upset over a single tweet. What about us? Like me or not, I'm a GREAT in football. This proves my point, u can't speak on ball alone," retorted Mendenhall via X.

While no one doubts that many players are frustrated by how fans take to social media to express their aggravation with the way a season is going, none of those players are making it an issue of race. 

The Steelers have been struggling this season. Their gameplay in all three phases has been inconsistent and the fans are angry. While most fans are objective and are not making it personal, there will always be fans who take it too far, or cross over boundaries. This isn't new behavior, social media has just made players more accessible. 

Former Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall Has A History Of Questionable Comments

Perhaps Mendenhall is like that kid we all knew in grade school. He or she wanted attention and would do anything to get it, with negative attention being better than no attention. It certainly feels like this is a pattern for him. The first Mendenhall tweet that went viral was in 2011 when he was still playing in Pittsburgh. He spoke out about the death of Osama bin Laden and questioned the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

"What kind of person celebrates death," wrote Mendenhall. "It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side...I'm not convinced he was even behind the attacks we have really seen no evidence to prove it other than the [government] telling us."

Those comments, about a very sensitive subject, had a huge impact. Fans immediately began to call for the Steelers to cut him and he lost several endorsements. 

This isn't the only time Mendenhall has made openly racist comments or used race as a weapon to generate attention. In 2019, he tweeted out that former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is white, was a racist. He claimed that wide receiver Antonio Brown, who is black, had to spend a huge chunk of his career catching balls for a racist quarterback. Mendenhall said it was "no big deal" and that Brown was just "supposed to take his lickings and move on, like a slave."

Mendenhall, who became a writer for the HBO sports comedy, Ballers, always maintains that he was a "great" football player. He retired early, after spending one year with the Arizona Cardinals, at the age of 26. He said that football was cool, but he didn't want to play anymore. 

The reality is no one was beating down Mendenhall's door to sign him to another contract. If you play like a Brown or Le'Veon Bell, folks will put up with some wacky behavior. Mendenhall was never enough of an asset to make up for how horrendous the comments he makes are. 

What do you think about Mendenhall's comments? What do you think about him doubling down to defend himself? Click to comment below. 

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