Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver group ranked 12th heading into 2020 season

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a young group of wide receivers that they’ve invested high in. Here’s why they were recently ranked 12th in the league.

Throughout the last decade of football, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been known for their ability to produce talent at the wide receiver position. Since joining the team as head coach back in 2007, Mike Tomlin has been responsible for drafting players like Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, Martavis Bryant, and JuJu Smith-Schuster. His most successful receiver was Antonio Brown – who was on a Hall of Fame pace before his antics derailed his career.

With Brown no longer with the team, the Steelers have continued to invest resources in the position. As a matter of fact, they have spent three second-round draft choices and one third-round pick on wide receivers in the past four drafts alone.

Recently, Cynthia Frelund of NFL Network ranked all 32 NFL wide receiver groups. She had the Steelers as the 12th best in the league:

Though it’s very early in the process, the Steelers are beginning to see the payouts of their investments. JuJu was productive from the gate in 2017 with an impressive 900-yard, 7-touchdown rookie campaign. He soon followed that up with a 1,400-yard performance in 2018.

Last year, the Steelers star receiver came back down to earth – earning just 552 yards in 12 starts with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges slinging him the ball. However, despite JuJu’s struggles last year, there’s plenty of reason to believe that the Steelers could have one of the league’s best wide receiver groups very soon.

In 2019, James Washington broke out in his second NFL season. Despite being just 99th in the league in catchable target rate, according to Player Profiler, he still finished 21st in yards per target and managed to lead Pittsburgh with 735 receiving yards last season.

Diontae Johnson gives Steelers fans even more reason for optimism this year. Though he was just a third-round rookie last season, Johnson led all NFL rookies in receptions, and ultimately led all NFL wide receivers in separation per target last year, according to Next Gen Stats. He is a player that some believe has WR1 upside in the NFL due to his ability to get open and make defenders miss after the catch.

Chase Claypool is obviously the latest addition to the group. Though high expectations for the rookie are on hold due to an unusual offseason, Claypool is a wide receiver coach’s dreams with his rare combination of size and athleticism to go with his physical demeanor.

Where should Steelers WR group rank

As of now, I have no issue with the Steelers being ranked the 12th best unit in the league. Though we could make a case for them being ranked above teams like the Rams, Chargers, or Lions, they are a very young group of guys that still have a lot to prove in the NFL. After the 2020 season, it’s possible that they could elevate themselves near the top of the league.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what analysts have to say about Pittsburgh’s group of wide receivers. If they can go out and prove to be successful with Ben Roethlisberger this year, they will continue to climb in the ranks.