Steelers' Backfield A Fantasy Football Question Mark?

The Pittsburgh Steelers have the luxury of having a strong stable of running backs again! The bad news for fantasy football owners is "who do I start?"

We recommend you look at the backfield as it was projected at the start of the season - Staley and Bettis. Only now, you substitute the name "Willie Parker" for Staley.

It is looking more and more like Duce Staley is the odd-man out in the rotation, and his play will be severely limited unless one of the other backs gets injured/re-injured. That also means people who have relied on Parker bailing them out during the early season will be hit and miss the rest of the year. With any luck, you traded Parker after Week 2 for a reliable contributor.

You know how it goes: Bettis gets three TD's on 12 yards rushing one week and Willie Parker gets 140 yards and 2 TD's the next. It's going to be tough to predict - matchups will be the key; combined with a few "lucky guesses" thrown in for good measure.

Fantasy Football Impact: We suggested you trade Parker after Week #2 (when he was hot, see Random Thoughts,) and he has done nothing since! (55 yards 0 TD/bye week/26 yards 0 TD) Don't get me wrong, Parker will have other weeks where he performs well, he just won't be the week in and week out workhorse that many of the early bandwagon jumpers were hoping for.