Pittsburgh Steelers: 4 Players Team Could Turn to If Isaac Redman Injury Lingers

The Pittsburgh Steelers were already looking to place backup Isaac Redman into the starting running back role this year while the team waited for Rashard Mendenhall to recover from a torn ACL. The Steelers may be forced to dive even deeper down the depth chart. 

That's not the best news for a team that's been without Mike Wallace for the entirety of training camp. 

Redman is set to have an MRI on an injured groin, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  

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#steelers starting RB Isaac Redman to have MRI on groin injury

— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) August 15, 2012"

While the severity of the injury is unknown, the Steelers must carefully plan ahead for the worst. There's a possibility Redman may not be ready for the season opener. Meanwhile, Mendenhall won't be available until the sixth or seventh game of the year at the earliest.

Which players should be in Pittsburgh's contingency plan?

Jonathan Dwyer

Next on the depth chart behind Redman is Jonathan Dwyer, a former sixth-round pick in the 2010 draft. He played in a triple-option system while at Georgia Tech, and was a two-time All-ACC selection. 

He's appeared in eight games for the Steelers over the last two years, and has 151 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries. 

The book on Dwyer is that he's a bulldozing head-down runner with limited lateral agility. At 5'11'' and 230 pounds, he is certainly capable of delivering damaging contact and running through defenders at the second and third levels. 

However, he's extremely unproven and doesn't bring much of a dynamic aspect to the field, which may not be as bad as it sounds. 

If Todd Haley is set to make Pittsburgh a pass-first team, Dwyer's workman-like approach—which will likely wear down defenses—may be more productive than people think. 

Unfortunately, Dwyer has battled a shoulder injury this offseason, and just recently returned to practice on a limited basis. 

Baron Batch

Not much is known about Baron Batch, the Steelers' fourth running back. However, he could also be moving into a bigger role at the start of the 2012 season. 

He was the team's seventh-round pick in the 2011 draft, and played his college ball at Texas Tech, which is hardly a running back factory. 

The 5'10'', 210-pound former Red Raider is decidedly more agile with a more innate burst than Dwyer. However, as AFC North blogger Andrea Hangst pointed out in a recent column, he looked far from starting material in his preseason debut against the Philadelphia Eagles:

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Batch has some talent, but didn't make much of it against the Philadelphia Eagles last week (he carried the ball 19 times for 41 yards, with a 2.2 yard per carry average) and is very much a work-in-progress.

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He could be a complementary piece in a running-back-by-committee approach, but it seems like a long shot that Batch makes a major contribution in the absence of Mendenhall and Redman. 

Chris Rainey

Rainey's rare straight-line speed, swift lateral agility and sudden acceleration make him the most compelling running back on the Steelers roster. 

No, the former Florida Gator isn't the traditional smash-mouth runner we've seen in the Steel City for ages, but he brings a new-age element to the team and is someone who's capable of hitting the home run from the backfield. 

At 5'9'' and 180 pounds, it's highly unlikely he'd garner feature-back duties, as the Steelers drafted him knowing he'd be more of a gadget player after averaging less than 100 carries a season in college. 

The electric dimension he will add will undoubtedly help Pittsburgh's offense, but there's merely an outside chance Rainey will garner feature-back duties.  

Ryan Grant

Ryan Grant's easily the best free-agent running back on the market, and is an established downhill runner. 

He's dealt with injuries in his past, and he will turn 31 in December, but he played in 15 games last year for the Packers and totaled 559 rushing yards at a respectable 4.2 yards per carry clip. 

No, Grant clearly doesn't represent the future for the Steelers, but he does fit the mold as an ideal stop-gap option until Pittsburgh's running backs are nursed back to health. 

If he's willing to join the team at a relatively inexpensive price, Grant may be the best option for the Steelers if Redman's injury sidelines him for the start of the regular season.