Pittsburgh Steelers: Chase Claypool in line for WR1 work in 2021?

Very few rookies in the 2020 NFL season were as impressive as Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool. Claypool was a second-round pick of the Steelers who, at the time of his being drafted, was legitimately being considered as a possible tight end convert at the next level.

As far as height, weight, speed, and explosiveness, Claypool is about as rare as it gets. Adding him into the apparent wide receiver factory that is the Pittsburgh Steelers program, everyone should have expected — at least on some level — the instant impact this talented player provided.

Claypool had a breakout season in 2019 at Notre Dame with over 1,000 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. He really carried that momentum into his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, catching 62 passes for 873 yards and nine touchdowns, also adding a pair of rushing touchdowns.

The impact Claypool made came as essentially the fifth option in the Steelers’ offense behind starting running back James Conner (169 rushing attempts, 43 targets), Benny Snell (111 rushing attempts, 14 targets), Diontae Spencer (144 targets), and JuJu Smith-Schuster (128 targets).

Claypool had 109 targets in his rookie season as well as 10 rushing attempts.

Pittsburgh Steelers: Get Chase Claypool more looks

A simple strategy for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021 has to be to get Claypool more looks in their offense.

Conner has left for the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent, but his touches and targets will almost certainly be replaced by first-round pick Najee Harris.

Pittsburgh is going to have to cut into the targets of Spencer and Smith-Schuster to get Claypool more involved, as well as possibly cutting into Eric Ebron’s targets and James Washington’s as well.

Claypool has proven himself worthy of WR1 status and work. The Pittsburgh Steelers would be fools not to find out what he could do with 140-160 targets or combined targets and rushing attempts this season. Getting him involved is going to be critical to their team success.

The Seattle Seahawks have a comparable talent in DK Metcalf whose target share went from 100 as a rookie to 129 in his second season. Although 120-130 targets would represent a slight increase for Claypool, that’s not going to cut it when he’s proven to be as impactful as he has.

Ben Roethlisberger has had a season to develop chemistry and rapport with Claypool, and I think now it’s only a matter of time before we see Claypool completely take over as this team’s alpha at receiver over both Diontae Spencer and Juju Smith-Schuster.