3 reasons James Washington is Steelers best wide receiver

#2–He’s never mentioned disparagingly

Whether it is in regards to offseason decisions or poor on-the-field performance, Washington’s name is one that rarely comes into the discussion. Meanwhile, JuJu Smith-Schuster’s future with the Steelers has been anything but guaranteed, with some even declaring that he is not worth bringing back, considering cap space struggles and his individual quality. If Chase Claypool was not a rookie with the stats that he amassed last season, he would have probably had a good chance of being thrown into this boat as well.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have Diontae Johnson. While he, unlike JuJu, has not been widely debated as far as his own respective worthiness of returning to Pittsburgh, he has been well-acquainted with social media hate as well (courtesy of Steelers fans throughout the stretch of the regular season predominantly). The reason for this is his tendency to drop the ball in big games, most namely. To hopefully no surprise, that has to be the absolute last bit of analysis that any receiver would want tied to their name and, subsequently, their eventual legacy.

But again, James Washington has seemingly avoided these talks, as he has not been subject to any of them on a major scale. Now I guess if one was a doubter of this observation, he or she could argue that he has not been criticized for his play because he is not relied upon as much as the others. But while this is true, being relied upon less is not the same as never being relied upon at all. And when James is out there, he’s usually on fire.

Underusing a valuable player would normally result in discussions of release, right? Whether it was by methods of trading or free agency? However, if that is the case, why has Washington’s future in Pittsburgh almost never been questioned? To me, that confirms that he is indeed seen as an important piece of the offensive regime in the eyes of the Steelers organization itself, as he should be.