Overall Fantasy Impact: Above Average

Offensive Outlook: These are not your father’s, or your older brother’s for that matter, Pittsburgh Steelers. The 2007 Steelers opened things up on offense and let Ben Roethlisberger throw like he was back in the MAC, while young playmakers like Willie Parker, Santonio Holmes, and Heath Miller put up huge numbers.

The draft brought more weapons in RB Rashard Mendenhall and WR Limas Sweed in the first two rounds, giving the Steelers more skill-position talent than just about anyone else. The only concern is the suddenly-suspect offensive line, which loses its finest player in departed free agent Alan Faneca.

QUARTERBACK: Roethlisberger ascended to the upper echelon of fantasy QB’s last year, with 32 TD passes, good for 3rd-best in the league (and more than Peyton Manning.) He had just one start in which he failed to throw a score and had three games with at least 4 TD’s. And he managed all of this without a 300-yard game, the only blemish to his fantasy record last year.

Not bad considering that his top two receivers missed significant time with injury. Big Ben should be off the board by round 5 and should be worthy of a fantasy start most weeks.

Charlie Batch is productive when he plays in relief, so he’d be worthy of a pick-up if Roethlisberger misses time.

RUNNING BACKS: Parker finished 4th in the league in rushing and had 8 100-yard-games before his season ended with a broken fibula in Week 15. All reports are that he’s healthy, but there are some other concerns. He had only 2 rushing TD’s, and his yards per carry dropped for the third straight year. Mendenhall should assume some of the workload, but look for Parker to actually benefit from less carries, as fresh legs should mean more big plays. The TD total of ‘07 seems more like a fluke than anything else and should go up to around 8 or 9 this year, even if the yards slip just a bit. He’s worthy of a choice at the end of Round 1 or the beginning of Round 2.

Mendenhall should be dangerous when he’s inserted against tired defenses as the game progresses. He doesn’t figure to get more than a few carries a game, but he could be worth a bye-week start and his value obviously skyrockets in value if Parker is hurt again.

WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT END: Holmes officially emerged last year as the Steelers receiver you want. Despite missing almost a quarter of the regular season due to injury, he racked up 942 yards and 8 TDs, and led the league in yards per catch at over 18 yards a pop. Take him as a number-two fantasy wideout if you can though, because Hines Ward will still get enough action to keep Holmes from truly exploding. Ward is now 32 and is coming off his worst season stat-wise in 7 years. He’ll still get plenty of catches and is dangerous in the red zone, but his days of being among the first receivers off the board are over. He’d be a respectable number-two receiver on your team, but no higher. Sweed is a top talent who fell into the second round of the NFL draft after missing most of last year at Texas with a wrist injury. If healthy, he’s got the potential to push Ward aside, but probably not this year. Sweed’s presence removes whatever minimal fantasy value Nate Washington, last year’s third wideout, had.

Miller is coming off career-bests in all categories. He’ll always be a good red-zone threat, but he’ll never be a dynamic fantasy performer like the best at the position. In a 12-team fantasy league, he’s just on the cusp of being worthy of a starting tight end slot.