RADIO
On Sunday, a potential new star emerged in the NFL, as Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool scored four touchdowns.
Claypool is going to be the biggest add on the waiver wire this week, which is the right decision. Get him on your rosters. In fact, by the time you're reading this, there's a good chance he already is on your roster, since you'll be reading it the day after (most) waivers run.
But, what now? Can we trust Claypool going forward? In this week's Tape Tells All, let's explore that question.
Background Information
Entering this season, the projected receiver depth chart in Pittsburgh was JuJu Smith-Schuster as the No. 1 receiver, then some combination of Diontae Johnson and James Washington, then a large gap down to maybe rookie Chase Claypool as the fourth guy. Maybe.
It hasn't really shook out that way.
Johnson has played just two full games because of injury, but in those games he led the team in targets both times out, with Smith-Schuster coming in second.
Then, with Johnson exiting early in Week 3, Smith-Schuster and Washington tied for the team league in targets. In Week 4, the Steelers ended up with an early bye week because of the Titans and their COVID-19 outbreak. And then, in Week 5, with Johnson once again exiting early, the team leader in targets was Claypool with 11, while Smith-Schuster had five.
All this leaves us with a pretty murky picture of what to expect with this Steelers receiving unit. It is seeming like JuJu Smith-Schuster is best used as a really good secondary receiver, which leaves an opening for someone to take over on the other side. We thought it was Johnson, but he can't seem to stay healthy. So, maybe it's Claypool?
Let's dig in Sunday's big game and see if it gives us the evidence to actually believe that.
The Game Tape
We begin at the beginning, because that's a logical first place to go. Here was Claypool's first catch of Sunday's contest:
The rookie starts inside here and runs the slant over the middle. Ben Roethlisberger hits him with the well-time quick pass, threading the ball in there perfectly. Claypool brings the ball in safely, then goes down. Good to see his willingness to make that play over the middle. Good to see the Steelers trusting him on this route. Okay.
Next, let's look at his first touchdown, which was a rushing score!
This was not the only time that Claypool got a rushing attempt. I don't think end arounds are sustainable or really something we should be predicting, especially this early in Claypool's career -- like, I'm not going to say something like "we can expect Chase Claypool to add four yards and 0.25 touchdowns per game on end arounds over the rest of the season" -- but I do think he shows some good vision here to glide through the congested area and get into the end zone. Also, it's fun to watch this GIF over and over!
Here was Claypool's first receiving touchdown. He's the outside receiver -- and long-time readers of this piece will know I'm a big fan of receivers who play all over the field -- and is able to make a shifty little move right past the line of scrimmage to create space. From there, he's got this huge bubble of space to make the reception in, and then it's just about carving out the best path forward. He dodges an attempted tackle from the Eagles defender, then takes a great angle to the house for the touchdown.
So, as of now, Claypool is at two touchdowns. Will he get a third?
(lol rhetorical question, we already know he got a third, and here it is)
Okay, I started this clip like a half-second late, but what you missed is that Claypool initially lined up at running back before motioning over to where three other receivers already were, creating this four-player stack. This was such an interesting way of running this fairly simple screen pass, with the three receivers ahead of him turning into blockers and opening up the space Claypool needed to get the touchdown. Great play design. Loved this. Hope the offensive of my favorite NFL team is taking notes!
Here's the final touchdown:
Coming from the inside here, Claypool just outruns the defender who starts on him, and the safety comes over too late to stop him. He's open. He scores. The end. Touchdown No. 4 on the afternoon for the rookie.
So, to save on bandwidth and all of that, I'm just going to summarize via list my thoughts on all of Claypool's other plays instead of clipping each individual one:
- 15-yard catch, second quarter: does a good job curling back to the ball for the catch
- Deep incompletion, second quarter: ball was not thrown in a spot where Claypool was going to catch it
- 5-yard catch, third quarter: short little out route, Claypool doesn't do much aside from just catch the ball
- Deep incompletion, third quarter: looks like some more miscommunication as the pass doesn't end up where Claypool is
- Short incompletion, third quarter: one play before the screen TD, Claypool misses on a contested play over the middle. It would have been tough to make this work.
- 33-yard catch reversed on review, third quarter: good catch over the shoulder, but just a little too close to the sideline
- 11-yard catch, fourth quarter: another catch in traffic
- 42-yard touchdown overturned by offensive pass interference, fourth quarter: I mean, he commits OPI, which is why he's able to have so much space in front of him and walk in for the touchdown.
Fantasy Impact
Alright, so what's this all mean for you, the fantasy football manager?
Look, the tape was impressive. He made contested catches. He was elusive with the ball in his hands. He moved around the formation.
But this receiving corps is still unsettled, especially if Johnson is back for the next game. We can't just count Smith-Schuster out, even if his start to 2020 has been disappointing vs. the expectations we had of him.
One of the biggest concerns for me is with Roethlisberger, who averages the eighth-fewest intended air yards per attempt. That's worrisome. And Claypool had 73.98 percent of the team's air yards this week, which seems wildly unsustainable, right?
A lower percentage of air yards going forward in an offense that won't be going downfield as much as you might be used to with the Steelers is a bad combination.
Now, that's not to say that Claypool's a bad player to roster! We watched the tape -- he's good! But we should temper our expectations just a tad and not assume he's the unquestioned No. 1 option going forward in Pittsburgh. Think of him as a WR3 play, though.
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