Are the Steelers misusing their wide receivers in 2021?

The Steelers passing attack hasn’t been good so far, but perhaps part of that has to do with Pittsburgh misusing their wide receivers. 

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not been able to find any sort of success so far on offense in 2021, and running the ball has been a major issue. Despite drafting Najee Harris with the 24th overall pick this past April, this team can’t get anything going on the ground.

As much as the running game has been a problem to open the season, the passing game hasn’t been much better. Through the first two games, Ben Roethlisberger has completed 45 of 72 targets for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception while averaging a mere 241.5 passing yards per game. In addition, his low air yards per attempt and sporadic accuracy down the field have equated to just an 85.6 passer rating so far.

It’s obvious that the pass protection is a major issue on this team and that Ben needs more time to be able to sit back and throw the ball. However, these issues might stem beyond this.

Looking at Roethlisberger’s target distribution so far this year, it’s reasonable to believe that perhaps some of his receiving options are being misused. Here’s a look at each pass-catcher’s target share to begin the year, via Pro Football Reference:

Are Steelers receivers being misused?

It’s no surprise to see that Diontae Johnson leads all receivers in targets. However, it’s interesting to note that he has received almost 1/3 of the total looks on offense so far – a number that might be a bit unbalanced.

On the other side of things, Pat Freiermuth has been targeted just 6.9 percent of all total passes despite being just one of 6 tight ends to catch every target thrown their direction so far this season. With how impressive he has been dating back to early in the summer, I think he needs to be utilized more on offense – specifically over the middle of the field.

In addition to an uneven target distribution, I’m very intrigued by the average depth of target for each Steelers receiver this year, and I wonder why JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington are being used so close to the line of scrimmage:

I’ve got to admit: I love the fact that Ben Roethlisberger is at least trying to hit the deep ball more often this year, and I’m perfectly fine with Chase Claypool being targeted more than 18 yards down the field. Unfortunately, the two players just haven’t been on the same page so far.

What’s criminal, however, is the misusage of JuJu and Washington so far. Just two years ago – when Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges were at the helm – Smith-Schuster had an average depth of target of 9.7 yards. Last year that number fell to 5.5 with Roethlisberger at quarterback and is just 4.5 through the first two games of 2021.

Likewise, James Washington (who was known as a deep threat in college) has had an average depth of target behind the line of scrimmage.

I’m not going to chalk all of Pittsburgh’s problems passing the ball to this (we all know the OL is a big problem), but it’s something worth noting. I think if the Steelers try to get players like Pat Freiermuth and James Washington more involved in the passing game while looking for JuJu Smith-Schuster a bit further down the field, they could find more success moving forward.