Chase Claypool became a household name in just one season with the Pittsburgh Steelers after having a monster rookie season. He could have broken 1,000 receiving yards in his first season with the Steelers, but Mike Tomlin felt the need to rest him more than he should have in 2020. Randy Fichtner's offense was pretty atrocious in 2020 and yet Claypool still dominated on the football field. Just imagine what he could do with a legit offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh?
The Steelers offense will walk into the new season with a brand new coordinator who loves to utilize everyone on the offensive side of the ball. The key is to make sure everyone gets their fair share on the football field. In 2020 Ben Roethlisberger did spread the ball out quite a bit, but that was only if he decided to tell Fichtner to hit the road. Ben played his best football in 2020 when he played backyard football. His favorite targets were Claypool and Johnson. JuJu and Washington still got their fair shares on the football field, but it wasn't as much as both Claypool and Johnson.
Claypool feels fine if teams decide to double-team him this season: “If they put two defenders on me, I’m fine with that, as long as the other guys are eating."
That is something we have been hearing since Antonio Brown has left Pittsburgh. It seems most of the wide receivers in Pittsburgh are fine with not putting big numbers up as long as they win. That seems to be the biggest difference since Bell and Brown have left town. The diva mentality looks to be gone finally in Pittsburgh.
Claypool says the Steelers wide receivers are looking to get their hands dirty this season especially when blocking for Najee Harris running the football. He says they will have the duty to block cornerbacks, linebackers, and other defenders on the football field in order to make Najee Harris successful. So it looks like the wide receivers will be asked to do multiple jobs going into the 2021 season. It should be interesting because the offense should look much different than it did with Fichtner coaching the offense in 2020. Thank God too.