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Chase Claypool 2022 NFL Player Outlook: Pittsburgh's New WR2
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool is entering his best-looking season, at least from an on-paper-opportunity standpoint. That's because the Steelers have finally moved on from long-time slot receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster to ancillary pieces at the position, such as James Washington and Ray-Ray McCloud. There is new competition in town--Pittsburgh drafted George Pickens in the second round and signed Miles Boykin to bolster the wideout corps--but only Diontae Johnson sits atop Claypool in the depth chart as things stand. The 23-year-old had a successful 2020 rookie season in which he finished as the fantasy WR23 in PPR leagues playing under an already-washed QB in Ben Roethlisberger and getting more than a fair share of targets (109). Even though he got virtually the same opportunities last year (105 targets), Claypool could only finish the season as the WR37 with an average of 11.1 FPPG compared to 13.4 as a rookie. Again, Roethlisberger didn't help but neither will Mitchell Trubisky or rookie Kenny Pickett, so it's going to come down to Claypool making the most of his abilities rather than expecting/getting external help. While you can pencil a WR3/WR4 in Claypool's projection for next season, that might be his ceiling if he can raise his bar a bit. The opportunity and the role are great, but the production still bears serious question marks that need to be solved before paying any sort of high ADP for the third-year receiver.
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