Steelers' Rashard Mendenhall Felt Disrespected By Pittsburgh In Final Year

The Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to have a rocky relationship with former first-round pick Rashard Mendenhall. There appeared to be drama at every turn, and it didn't help that he suffered multiple significant injuries. He had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, although he is remembered for more of the negatives than the positives -- even after his retirement. After his time in Pittsburgh, he spent one year with the Arizona Cardinals, where he struggled to get anything going. He retired after one year in there, and six years total in the NFL. 

During an interview with Steelers Takeaways, Mendenhall was asked about the drama that led to him being suspended in his final season in Pittsburgh. He broke down the whole situation and how everything unfolded.

"That was about respect in my last year," explained Mendenhall. "Baltimore was an away game the week before the game I didn’t show up for. I worked my way back from injury to be my best self and prepared to play. I found out only when I got to Baltimore and saw there was no uniform in my locker that I was a game-day scratch. Why didn’t they say anything to me sooner? I wondered if it was just me who felt that way, but Kirby Wilson told me it shouldn’t have happened like that and that I should take it personally."

Mendenhall did take it personally. He continued on and explained what his responses were to that whole ordeal. 

"The next week, I asked if I was dressing for the game and they said 'No.' That’s just the business of the game," admitted Mendenhall. "Sometimes as a player, there’s not much you can do. Not showing up was my statement. But the following week behind closed doors, we got right."

It never feels good to learn that you are scratched, whether it's a health concern or not. For Mendenhall, he never even received that word. He just found out on his own, which made everything worse. Running backs coach Kirby Wilson seemed to be surprised that his first-round back had to figure it out the hard way. 

Mendenhall took Wilson's advice a little too much, as the Steelers did not seem to take kind to his way of standing up for himself. Head Coach Mike Tomlin, who is known as a player's coach that usually tries to brush issues under the rug, went against his own nature to teach his starting running back a lesson. 

By this time, Mendenhall had been inactive seven times in that season. The instances of him learning last second that he was cut and his meeting before his suspension were the straws that finally broke the camel's back. Keeping that information from him was disrespectful in his eyes.

Mendenhall did not go into detail on what exactly was said behind closed doors, but whatever he said must have gotten through to the coaching staff, as he was reinstated immediately after his one-game suspension. Whatever had happened was done with, but it didn't seem to matter much, as he had 70 total yards in his final two games.

Steelers And Mendenhall Hopefully Have Made Up Now

Now that everything is long in the past, Mendenhall should hopefully be content with where he is. His past feuds with guys like Ryan Clark and Ben Roethlisberger are also long gone, and he even announced that he has returned to Pittsburgh permanently. What's done is done.

Obviously, everything wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for Mendenhall, but as he said later on, he did everything he could. He still did more than most players can say, even if injuries held him back from his potential. That's just another day in the life of an NFL running back.

What do you think about Mendenhall's explanation for how his suspension went down? Let us know in the comments, as well as on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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