4 Steelers receivers could lead the team in 4 different categories in 2021

James Washington: Efficiency

This last one isn’t exactly one statistical category; rather, a collection of important categories that make up a wide receiver’s efficiency. For my money, James Washington is one of the most underrated players on the team and underappreciated players in the NFL. Despite managing to impress with limited opportunities, his workload has never really increased much during his first three seasons.

In 2019, Washington led the Steelers in receiving yards as JuJu was banged up and missed a few games, but he slid back down to a distant fourth of this group in 2020 with just 392 yards last season. Still, I think there’s a great chance that James Washington could once again be the most efficient receiver on this squad.

Last year, Washington ranked 40th in the NFL in production premium and 44th in yards per reception despite being just 99th in the league in catchable target rate, according to PlayerProfiler.com. Essentially, this means that Washington was able to perform above expected even though Roethlisberger was off the mark throwing to him. Washington is never going to wow anyone with his skill set, but his strong hands and big-play ability make him a strong candidate to finish as the most efficient Steelers receiver in 2021.

The Steelers may not have an elite number one option in the passing game to throw to, but the collection of their top four receivers with differing skill sets could each prove to be very good in their own way this year.