With the 23rd pick in the first round, the Pittsburgh Steelers select Rashard Mendenhall, RB, University of Illinois. With two good RBs on the Steelers already in Willie Parker and Najeh Davenport, the Mendenhall pick was a bit of a surprise. But going into the 2008 season, he's one of my Rookies To Watch (that's what the RTW stands for in case you were wondering).

Mendenhall comes to Steel Town as the Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2007. He won the honor by finishing his junior season at Illinois with 1681 rushing yards and 19 total TDs. Those numbers had him in the Heisman talk last year as well. The Steelers got a steal (pun intended) getting Mendenhall so late in the first round.

The question though, especially for fantasy football players, is how will he fit into the somewhat crowded backfield in Pittsburgh? Parker is the No. 1 guy on the depth chart, but that's not set in stone. He has the speed but last year was a disappointing season for Parker owners. While he did put up over 1400 total yards, he only scored twice. After scoring a total of 16 TDs in 2006, this was a drastic drop-off. That's not a good sign going forward, especially with a backfield with as much talent as the Steelers currently have. With Davenport taking some carries away from Parker, including the usually promising goal line carries, Parker's value takes a big hit. Davenport scored a total of seven TDs last year and rushed for almost 500 yards.

And now steps in Mendenhall. The guy is simply a beast. Depending on how he does in training camp, he could steal carries from Parker and Davenport as well. Eventually the guy is going to be the No. 1 back in Pittsburgh, especially if Parker has another "down" year. Now, this isn't to say that Mendenhall is going to be a fantasy stud from day one, but drafting him in the middle to late rounds and stashing him on your bench could make for a great player to plug in once the bye weeks start. Should the injury bug bite Parker this season, Mendenhall could be the guy to fill-in for him, and possibly take his job should he perform well.

Training camp and the pre-season are going to be good measuring sticks in the early going for Mendenhall. Even with the Steelers moving more toward a balanced offensive attack, the team still relies heavily on the run in order to protect their QB, Ben Roethlisberger. If Mendenhall can show that he can block well in passing situations, that's even more of a plus and an even better chance to see him get in and catch some passes as well.

Mendenhall is going to be a fantasy stud. My concerns for Parker aside, he could just lose the job outright at some point because Mendenhall is just that good. He's no Adrian Peterson (the one in Minnesota, not Chicago) but he could be over time, if not better considering Peterson's injury concerns. With the skill set he has along with his potential to be a great fantasy player at the position that most consider fantasy gold, Mendenhall is definitely a Rookie To Watch this season.