Which Steelers skill player is most important to success of the team?

The Steelers have a handful of quality young skill players, but which one is most important to the success of the team moving forward?

I have to admit, I had a lot of questions about the Steelers skill players of the future before this past season. Back in 2017, Pittsburgh had Le’Veon Bell at running back and a wide receiver trio that included Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, and JuJu Smith Schuster.

Not two years later, this group was looking pretty thin. JuJu struggled in his first season as the team’s number one wide receiver, and James Washington was going through some growing pains. Additionally, James Conner was serviceable but proved to be nowhere near the caliber of player the Steelers had with Bell in the backfield.

Fast forward to present day, and there almost seems to be a surplus of skill player talent on the roster. Pittsburgh is currently four-deep at wide receiver with Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and James Washington, and their backfield was instantly strengthened with the addition of former Alabama star, Najee Harris. On top of this, a tight end corps of Eric Ebron and Pat Freiermuth suddenly doesn’t look too shabby.

Out of all of the talented, young skill players, I got to thinking: which player is most valuable to the success of this team moving forward?

After being intrigued by this thought, I decided to conduct a poll on Twitter. The results showed that fans think Chase Claypool is the most valuable skill player for the Steelers. I agree with this; however, rookie running back Najee Harris was an extremely close second place:

Why Chase Claypool is the most valuable Steelers skill player?

I have little doubts that Najee will be a success in the NFL, but there’s no way I would bet on him being more valuable to the future of this team than Chase Claypool. Though it was important for the Steelers to find an upgrade over James Conner and Benny Snell, the value of the running back position in today’s NFL has diminished significantly.

In addition, they have the shortest shelf-life of any position in the league. While great running backs can sometimes last longer, this really wasn’t true for Le’Veon Bell. His last relevant season came at the age of just 25 before it seemed like the wheels completely fell off. With Najee expected to see a massive workload during his rookie contract, he could prove to fizzle out early as well.

While there are a handful of quality receivers to pick from as potentially the most valuable skill player on the team, I think Claypool is the most promising of the group. He has remarkable size and athletic traits for the position that helps him win at every level of the field, and he has already shown that he has the potential to be one of the best downfield threats in the league. Claypool is a matchup problem in the red zone and is surprisingly good with the ball in his hands for a player his size.

Smith-Schuster and Johnson both have traits that make them intriguing as well. JuJu can play both inside and outside and is extremely physical after the catch, while Johnson might be one of the best separators in the league out of his breaks and is incredibly slippery after the catch. Unfortunately, JuJu seems to be capped with his best position coming in the slot, and Diontae has been incredibly inconsistent so far.

Obviously, this is just hypothetical and we, fortunately, do not need to choose between these talented young players. However, I think Chase Claypool will prove to be the most valuable skill player on the Pittsburgh Steelers moving forward.