4 pivotal questions the Steelers must answer vs the Seahawks

How does Steelers Claypool do in the slot?

The loss of JuJu Smith-Schuster will certainly be felt, but luckily the team has a natural replacement for the physical slot receiver. While Chase Claypool excels at winning deep, he is the most logical slot replacement as of now for the team. He uses his size and speed to win all over the field, and he played well in the slot while at Notre Dame.

While the team will likely employ a variety of different options in the slot, Claypool should end up being the bell-cow there. His size presents a mismatch for any team, and he was effective when used in the slot against Denver. He caught his lone touchdown there as well. He show some play after the catch ability as well, something that hadn’t been there when Smith-Schuster was the primary slot receiver.

The lone point of concern would be the reliance on the slot receiver to move the chains. While not always a dynamic receiving threat, Smith-Schuster did a great job of making the tough catch and moving the chains. To this point, Claypool has not proven that he can do that. He will need to work on his hands and make sure that while making the huge play is nice, he can also settle for the catch and the first down. There is a real reason to be optimistic about Claypool in the slot, but he needs to prove that he can be as dependable as Smith-Schuster first.