Best-case NFL player comparisons for Steelers young wide receivers

The Steelers have four young, talented wide receivers. Here’s who they could be in the future if their careers work out just right. 

Since the departure of Antonion Brown in the 2018 offseason, many would argue that the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have a  true number one receiver on their roster. While this may be true at the moment (depending on your definition of a number one wideout), they have four young players who could have great career paths ahead of them.

I don’t think anyone is going to argue that Pittsburgh doesn’t have one of the deepest wide receiver corps in the league, and they clearly have four quality capable receivers – each between just 22-25 years old. With the talent and upside at the position, this begs the question: what is the ceiling for each of Pittsburgh’s top 4 receivers?

Recently, I decided to come up with a best-case NFL player comparison for each of the Steelers top 4 receivers. For these comparisons, I chose players who win in a similar fashion and possess comparable skill sets. If all goes swimmingly for these receivers moving forward and assuming the opportunities are on the table, here’s the best-case scenarios for each of their NFL careers:

James Washington

Best-case player comparison: Hakeem Nicks

I know this seems like awfully high praise, but mind you, this is a ‘best-case scenario. In order to become a player the caliber of Hakeem Nicks, James Washington would need to see much more opportunity in the passing game. This may not come with the Steelers, but perhaps he could see a significant uptick in targets with a different team after the 2021 season – much like we saw with Emmanuel Sanders after he left town.

As a former second-round draft choice in 2018, Washington does have some talent at the position, but like Hicks, he’s not a phenomenal athlete. Hicks and Washington both ran in the low 4.5s coming out of college and tested as very average athletes overall.

Both receivers are listed at 6’0” or under, according to Pro Football Reference, but they play much bigger than that. While they aren’t going to make a ton of defenders miss with the ball in their hands, they are extremely physical at the catch point and can win down the field without great speed.

Obviously, Washington would need to see significantly more targets to have the same type of NFL success as Nicks, but the former Giants receiver had just two 1,000-yard seasons in his NFL career and 31 total touchdowns. This seems unlikely for Washington, but it could be attainable with the right organization after Pittsburgh.