Grading Steelers stellar rookies halfway through 2020 season

Anthony McFarland

Grade: C-

It seemed like Anthony McFarland was on the verge of finding a role after he looked explosive against the Texans. Then, the Steelers reverted back to their old ways and began only using James Conner with little rotation. Worse yet, the Steelers have been favoring Jaylen Samuels over McFarland, making his playing time tough to come by. The final nail in his coffin so far has been the inability to make a big play happen.

Brought in for his speed, McFarland arguably had the best path to early season success with the Steelers. He has great speed, and as a change of pace option, he could have seen a couple of touches each game with the chance to break one long. Instead, the few times he has gotten the ball, he has looked almost too fast for his own good, tripping over his own feet as he did against the Ravens. While this isn’t the end of the world, it also hurts his midseason grade.

His expectations at this point would be to see about five touches a game and to provide that big-play ability. Outside of the Texans game, that hasn’t been the case which has led to a below-average score for McFarland. If his role can expand a little and he can break off a few big gains, this grade will go up. He isn’t a bust by any means, but his early returns haven’t been quite what many thought they would be.