5 things Steelers Chase Claypool has to improve upon in 2021

Drops

Once again, let’s get this straight right up front: Claypool was not the Steelers’ primary drop issue at receiver in 2020. That was Diontae Johnson and Eric Ebron. That said, he was credited for six drops in 2020 and had a drop percentage of 5.5 percent. That isn’t as bad as the 13 drops and 9 percent drop rate from Johnson, but the age-old saying applies here: one drop is too many drops.

Now, that isn’t to say that Claypool has to catch every pass thrown his way. Some passes that are credited as drops aren’t easy to bring down and human error is always going to rear its ugly head. That said, if Claypool wants to ascend into the upper tier of receiver, he needs to keep his drops to a minimum.

Again, a drop here and there, while frustrating, doesn’t mean that Claypool is washed up and a failure. He just needs to keep his numbers either where they were at in 2020 or even drop them a little. Just as a reference to some of the elites in the NFL in 2020, DeAndre Hopkins had two drops (1.3 percent), Davante Adams had one (.7 percent), and fellow rookie Justin Jefferson had two (1.6 percent). Again, Claypool doesn’t have to hit those numbers, he just has to make sure that he can limit his drops if he wants to be an elite receiver going forward.