5 best building blocks on the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021

3. WR Chase Claypool

I know this might seem a little high for a player who has just one season under his belt, but it wasn’t hard to see Chase Claypool’s impact to the team week in and week out last season. Even when he wasn’t catching the football, Claypool was responsible for stretching the defense or drawing penalties down the sideline. In fact, Claypool led all NFL receivers in penalty yards drawn last year.

At 6’4” and 230-plus pounds, it’s incredibly rare for a receiver to have the combination of size and athletic traits that Claypool possesses. While we have seen first-hand that this doesn’t always matter at the wide receiver position (e.g. Antonio Brown), Claypool is in a rare group of players when it comes to physical gifts.

In addition, there aren’t many players his size that can move as well after the catch as Chase Claypool does. Despite his large frame for the position, Claypool has the speed and movement skills to take a screen pass or slant the distance.

Of the four young receivers on the team, Claypool has the best chance to be a true “number one” receiver, and he may already be the most important of the group. The former second-round pick turns just 23 years old in July and has an incredibly bright future ahead of him.