Ranking Pittsburgh Steelers best options at outside receiver in 2021
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers are very deep with outside receivers in 2021. Here are their best options outside the hashes this year.
Earlier this offseason, JuJu Smith-Schuster made a few headlines around Steelers Nation for confessing that he wants to ‘play on the outside.’ Early in his career, JuJu has shown to be a capable wide receiver from multiple spots on the field. While I commend his effort to increase his market value next offseason by showing teams he is more than just a slot receiver, the Steelers need to make the right decisions for the organization.
Smith-Schuster isn’t the only young, promising receiver on the team. There are four wide receivers to whom Ben Roethlisberger will be distributing a bulk of the targets in 2021, and each brings something different to the table. Recently, I took the liberty of ranking Pittsburgh’s best options at outside wide receiver heading into the new season:
4. JuJu Smith-Schuster
I know JuJu Smith-Schuster is one of the most popular players on the Steelers, but I have no issue declaring him as just the fourth-best receiving option on the team outside of the hashes. While JuJu is strong at the catch point and physical with the ball in his hands, these are traits that are represented with his play from the slot.
As much as JuJu would hate to admit it, most fans realize that his skill set is best utilized from the slot. In the best season of his NFL career in 2018, Smith-Schuster had Antonio Brown as the ‘X’ receiver opposite of him to alleviate pressure from the young wideout. Since then, however, JuJu has been average at best winning from the outside, as he lacks the refined route running and overall quickness to consistently win outside the hashes.
Because of this, much of JuJu’s outside targets are contested as he can’t do nearly as much damage after the catch on the outside as he does from the slot. Despite his wishes, JuJu should remain the primary slot receiver – occasionally operating as the outside ‘Z’ receiver in ’12’ personnel.