A Canadian ? Drafted by my Steelers ?

Notre Dame’s Chase Claypool comes straight out of central casting, with Ben Roethlisberger as director.

A tall, fast, physical wide receiver who produced at a big school? Send him right over. He’s the kind of receiver who warms the heart of the Steelers’ 38-year-old quarterback, who put that kind of player on his wish list long ago.


So the Steelers presented him with another one. At 6-foot-4 and with 4.4-second speed, Claypool is Martavis Bryant without the baggage. But he’s even bigger because he weighs 238 pounds, making him borderline tight end size. In fact, he thought at one point he might convert to a tight end in the NFL. But no one is going to waste time lining him up next to a tackle or making him block half the time, not with that speed.

Provided he fulfills the Steelers’ expectations, he should be their top home run threat and best wide receiver target inside the red zone along with their two veteran tight ends. He’ll play on the outside, which means JuJu Smith-Schuster can move back into his more comfortable position in the slot.
The Steelers did not have a first-round draft pick for the first time in 53 years, and for the first time in eight years, they did not make their first pick a defensive player. It should be no surprise that they drafted a wide receiver in the second round because they’ve now done it in three of the past four drafts. Claypool was the 11th wide receiver drafted from one of the deepest talent pools for the position, but the Steelers did not sound as if they got a leftover. They’ve shown they know how to draft wide receivers beyond the first round.

“I was really excited when he ran a sub-4.4 at the combine,” said Randy Fichtner, the Steelers’ offensive coordinator. But then, he noted, “I don’t get excited because you assume you’re not going to get to him at 49. … That downhill speed and couple that with his size and ability to win one-on-one, that brings a lot to us.”
Fichtner acknowledged Roethlisberger will be particularly delighted with the pick (and, indeed, the quarterback called Claypool on Friday night).
“When he has the ability to throw the ball down the yard,” Fichtner said of Roethlisberger, “and he feels good about the percentage of completions and big plays, I know he’ll be excited to have one more weapon and throw the ball up.”
Roethlisberger has to like the looks of his new receiving corps. He now has height, speed and toughness all around. Claypool joins Smith-Schuster (42 catches, 562 yards), James Washington (44 for 735) and Diontae Johnson (59 for 680). The Steelers’ top three receivers last season caught passes from quarterbacks who had never played an NFL snap before 2019. The team also added veteran tight end Eric Ebron in free agency to pair with Vance McDonald. Both are 6-foot-4. It makes for as versatile a group as Roethlisberger has had.

“Naturally, as a coach, you get excited by the opportunity that maybe this one has to be defended deep,” Fichtner said of Claypool. “Now guys like JuJu and Diontae work the intermediate (routes) and all of a sudden it just seems to open things up cleaner. Everyone needs those levels to be able to attack. From just the speed alone it puts him in that conversation.”
The Steelers drafted Claypool, who hails from British Columbia, and ignored J.K. Dobbins, the top-rated running back by The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. Now they’ll have to stop the former Ohio State back because Baltimore drafted Dobbins six spots after the Steelers took Claypool. That debate should flare up twice annually for a while, as the Steelers could have used a top back, too.
The oft-injured James Conner is No. 1 at running back, but he enters the final year of his contract with no expectation the Steelers will try to keep him beyond 2020. The rest of the backfield consists of Benny Snell, Jaylen Samuels and Kerrith Whyte. With Conner missing time to various injuries, the Steelers’ ground game ranked fourth from the bottom of the NFL last season with an average of 90.4 yards per game. Their 3.7-yard average per carry ranked third from last.

Seven of the NFL’s top nine rushing teams last season made the playoffs. The Steelers, of course, have not done so since the 2017 season.
Be that as it may, they did need a No. 1 receiver with size and speed, and they can’t fill two holes with one draft pick. They certainly got the size and speed in Claypool, and now it’s up to him to see if he can become the No. 1 wide receiver. He said he does not believe he will be held back if the coronavirus pandemic delays practice time with his new teammates into training camps.
“It’ll be more time to get one on one,” Claypool said. “I’m working with T.J. Houshmandzadeh in California. I’ll try to get to the (Steelers) facility as soon as I can to get work in with Ben and the other receivers. I don’t think it will limit me too much.”

Whatever the case, he won’t be alone; every rookie will be at a disadvantage if there are cutbacks in training time. Claypool’s height and speed might help make up for that, plus he is a well-rounded receiver, a good blocker and a special-teams player.
“He is one of those rare types of combination of size and speed, his wingspan is greater than 80, he has big hands,” Fichtner said. “His production this past season is off the charts.”

Claypool caught 66 passes for 1,037 yards (a 15.7-yards-per-catch average) and 13 touchdowns last season at Notre Dame.
“Some of the small things that grow on you as you watch his tape and his play is his ball security,” Fichtner said. “No job too small. He gives effort when balls aren’t coming to him. He volunteers for special teams.”

That sounds like Hines Ward. That sounds good to me.

The selection of Claypool likely removes any doubt this will be Smith-Schuster’s last season in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have a history of moving wide receivers in and out, with Antonio Brown the only one to earn a second (and a third) contract from them since Ward. In the intervening years, Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, Markus Wheaton and Martavis Bryant have come and gone. Earlier, Santonio Holmes, Nate Washington and Antwaan Randle-El were all one-contract-and-done with the Steelers.
All were drafted between the second and fourth rounds except Holmes, a first-rounder. And now comes Claypool in the second round, where the Steelers found Washington in 2018 and Smith-Schuster in 2017.
It’s how they operate.