Predicting Steelers target distribution for the 2020 season

Steelers 2020 target predictions (cont.):

James Washington: 72 targets

Despite a breakout season from second-year wide receiver James Washington in 2019, he could actually see his targets dip in year three. With JuJu missing four games last year and nobody on the bench to step up, Washington saw 80 looks primarily from a pair of backup passers last season.

Washington will do much of his damage down the field and outside the hashes. If Roethlisberger prefers the short and intermediate game (which he will) Washington won’t see nearly as many looks as JuJu or Johnson this year.

Eric Ebron: 66 targets

Eric Ebron could prove to be an efficient pass-catcher over the middle of the football field, but that still doesn’t change the fact that Ben Roethlisberger historically has not dumped the ball to tight ends often. In fact, even Heath Miller earned 100 targets just once in his 11-year NFL career. In 2018, Vance McDonald was terrific in the passing game, but still only earned 72 looks despite Ben leading the league in pass attempts. I think we should hold off on our expectations from Ebron for now.