FanHouse Lawrence Timmons

There's a pretty strong belief that the Steelers avoid the free agent market. Because of their belief in the draft and the Rooney's lack of a Daniel Snyder-size bankroll, they ignore free agents and focus instead on developing their own stars.

It's only halfway true. It's fair to say that Pittsburgh won't be in the market for the top free agents on the market next year, just like they haven't gone shopping for a big-money free agent in any of the past 17 years. But Pittsburgh does go shopping in the bargain bin. And more often than not, they find deals -- like linebacker Keyaron Fox, the star of Sunday's win against the Vikings.

Did the injury bug hit your fantasy football team like it was a car windshield moving at 100 MPH? If so, it may be time to do some Damage Control.

Running Back

• Donald Brown, Colts - Brown left with a strained shoulder on Sunday and did not return. More information will be learned this week.

• Leon Washington, Jets - Washington left Sunday's game with a broken leg. He'll be out for the season, although the Jets say they are going to wait to put him on injured reserve.

• Jonathan Stewart, Panthers - Stewart injured his finger and left the game on Sunday. He did return later in the game but you'll want to watch and see what he does in practice this week. Any kind of hand injury can wreak havoc on ball-carriers.

When I started studying the Steelers' offensive line in 2006, it sprung from a lot of frustration. Week after week, you heard TV announcers talking about the Steelers' dominating line and its smash-mouth running attack. But as I watched, I saw Sean Mahan being driven backwards play after play, Max Starks struggling to block speed rushers and Kendall Simmons looking much weaker than his reputation.

It's taken four years, but these days it's hard to find any NFL fan who isn't aware that the Steelers' offensive line is one of the biggest stumbling blocks that could keep Pittsburgh from defending its Super Bowl title. That's progress I guess. Nowadays if I write that Max Starks sometimes struggles with speed rushes, or that Chris Kemoeatu sometimes seems lost, I'm telling everyone what they already know.

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

The last time the Steelers won a Super Bowl, in 2006, they limped through the encore season as Bill Cowher headed towards retirement, Ben Roethlisberger battled a motorcycle wreck, two concussions and appendicitis, and the offensive line fell apart. Now after winning another Super Bowl, Pittsburgh's offensive line is still shaky and Roethlisberger has already endured an Achilles injury and a civil suit, but Pittsburgh believes it has built a team that can make a much better defense of its "sticky Lombardi."

UPDATE (Tuesday, Aug. 4): Jarvis Moss returned to practice after taking three days off to contemplate his football future.

In 2007, a few months after Mike Tomlin was named the Steelers head coach, the team selected linebacker Lawrence Timmons with the 15th overall pick. The move underwhelmed fans partly because Pittsburgh is perennially in need of offensive linemen, but mostly because Timmons had shown up to his pro day workout out of shape.

But if the Steelers hadn't drafted Timmons, the Broncos would have. In fact, Denver tried to trade up, Pittsburgh balked, and now Timmons is on the verge of becoming Pittsburgh's next great linebacker. And Jarvis Moss, the defensive end from Florida that the Broncos eventually selected 17th overall, is mulling retirement.

It's the latest example that the NFL draft is a crapshoot.

The increase in popularity of Individual Defensive Player (IDP) leagues was easy to see coming. After all, why break down offensive players individually by position yet group all defenders as a team? Of course, when IDPs come into play, the defense can't be just an afterthought.

Sleeping on defenders while other teams amass high-sack guys like James Harrison and DeMarcus Ware, or consistent 100-tackle linebackers like Patrick Willis or Ray Lewis could leave you high and dry at critical positions. You wouldn't be stuck with Donald Driver and Devin Hester as your top two receivers, would you?

However, it'll get to that point in the draft where 20 or 30 defenders are off the board at a certain position, and you need to add a sleeper or two to your IDP core, someone who has the ability to finish in the top ten at their position. Today, I'll examine a few potential breakouts at each position -- hopefully, you'll add one or two of the good ones on draft day.

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With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the...
Team with more Super Bowl titles than any other franchise in existence. Fresh off of their sixth Super Bowl title, the Steelers return in 2009 with a solid shot at a repeat performance. The stellar defense is still around and the main keys to the Pittsburgh offense are back and healthy.

While the NFL version of the Steelers is a force to be reckoned with, the Steelers, as fantasy assets, are just average.

The early reports on the Steelers' 2009 draft picks is very favorable. Mike Wallace has shown speed. Frank Summers is just as big as everyone expected and Ziggy Hood has shown an outstanding motor.

Of course, there's yet to be a draft pick who's publicly been called out for disappointing at offseason workouts, so as always, we won't know very much until they put the pads on for real in two months. But if history is any kind of guide, expect Hood, the Steelers' first-round pick, to do quite well, while several of the later-round picks will fail miserably.

Four years ago, Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau figured out how to move Troy Polamalu around to create all kinds of confusion--the result was an amazing run through the playoffs on the way to a Super Bowl victory. Two years ago, LeBeau tinkered with the Steelers defense by working up a pass defense with one down lineman and defensive end Brett Keisel wandering all around to cause mass chaos. The result was the league's top ranked defense for total yardage allowed.

Last year LeBeau drew up overload blitzes with James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley lined up on the same side and nickel packages that allowed Lawrence Timmons, Harrison and Woodley to come from anywhere and everywhere. It turned into one of the best defenses of all time (first in total defense, passing defense and scoring nd second in rushing defense).