"Steelers president Art Rooney II and coach Mike Tomlin may not have to say much to running back Rashard Mendenhall about his recent comments regarding Osama bin Laden and 9/11.

That is one of the benefits of having a veteran locker room, where younger players are expected to fall into line.

Several team leaders, including defensive captain James Farrior, said Mendenhall made a mistake by voicing inflammatory opinions on a social media website.

They said they expect Mendenhall, who turns 24 next month, to learn from the fallout of his Twitter posts. In one, Mendenhall questioned how planes flown into the World Trade Center could have brought down the Twin Towers "demolition style." Mendenhall since took down the post.

"He made some comments that he probably shouldn't have made at the sensitive time that it was," Farrior said. "You can voice your opinions, but you don't want to try to offend people that have strong feelings about that. You've got to think about everybody that's involved."

Because of the lockout, neither Rooney nor Tomlin have been allowed to contact Mendenhall since he ignited a firestorm following a military operation that killed bin Laden, the face of the 9/11 attacks.

The Steelers were quick to distance themselves from Mendenhall's comments, with Rooney saying in a prepared statement that it was "hard to even comprehend" what the team's first-round draft pick in 2008 meant. Champion dropped Mendenhall as an endorser, even though the sports apparel company recently re-signed him to a four-year contract."