5 young Steelers players who must take a big leap forward in 2021

The Steelers have a lot of young players who are ready to contribute, but these five must take a leap forward in order to have success in 2021.

It’s all hands on deck for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021. The team has a mixture of seasoned veterans and young, promising talent, but with Ben Roethlisberger returning for one last hurrah, the Steelers are really going to need some young contributors to step up in a big way.

Many of these players have terrific athletic traits and their flashes have been excellent. Unfortunately, they have yet to put everything together. Each one will be counted on to play a key role for Pittsburgh in 2021, so their performances will be crucial to the success of the team. Here are five Steelers who need to take a big leap forward this year:

WR Diontae Johnson

Here’s a player who is still very much a mystery to me. Diontae Johnson’s highs are remarkably high – almost Antonio Brown-like. However, his lows are a low as any wide receiver in the league. Unfortunately, we saw much more of his lows in 2020 after an extremely promising season in 2019.

Johnson isn’t the biggest or fastest receiver, but he’s an elite separator with his quickness, and he might be the NFL’s slipperiest receiver with the ball in his hands. It’s not hard to figure out why Ben Roethlisberger likes throwing to Johnson so much, and he has been the most targeted receiver on the team over the past two seasons. However, 14 drops are far too many, and he really needs to take a giant leap forward in terms of consistency in order for the Steelers offense to have more success in 2021.