Steelers officially place Mendenhall on IR, sign Anthony Madison

The Steelers have placed fourth-year running back Rashard Mendenhall on their Reserve/Injured List, the team announced today. Mendenhall suffered a season-ending knee injury in the team’s regular-season finale at Cleveland in Week 17.

Mendenhall finished shy of his third consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season as he finished the 2011 campaign with 928 yards on 228 attempts. He added nine rushing touchdowns and two 100-yard rushing performances on the year. Mendenhall has 3,367 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns in his four years with Pittsburgh.

To fill Mendenhall’s spot on the active roster, the Steelers re-signed veteran cornerback Anthony Madison, who originally signed with the team as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2006. He spent time on Pittsburgh’s active roster and practice squad in each of his six seasons, but he also was active with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2006), Cleveland Browns (2009), Indianapolis Colts (2009) and most recently the Detroit Lions (2011).

Madison will wear No. 37.