If history is any indication, Chase Claypool will contribute for the Steelers in his rookie year.
The worst case scenario is that he’s the Steelers 4th receiver this year. If that's the case, he will still have a chance to make some plays.
Remember when the Steelers chucked the ball up to Johnny Holton time after time last year? He caught 20% of the passes thrown his way. Maybe it was because of the distinct lack of splash every time the ball got near him, but he played a fair amount last year, and you noticed him.
Holton played in all 16 games and started three. At WORST, Chase Claypool is going to fill the Johnny Holton spot on the roster.
Claypool can and will play special teams. He had 29 special teams tackles in college to go along with the 13 TD’s he had his final year. If he’s a better version of Johnny Holton, he will help the team in 2020.
Here's betting that he will have more of an impact than that. Rookie wide receivers are productive with the Steelers all the time. Sometimes it just takes a beat for them to get up to speed.
JuJu Smith-Schuster had just 17 catches in his first seven games as a Steeler. He had 53 in the remaining seven games of his rookie season.
Martavis Bryant didn’t get a helmet for the first six games of his rookie campaign. In week seven, he played and took off against the Houston Texans. He had 26 catches for over 500 yards and eight TD’s the rest of the season.
In his rookie year, James Washington had his best two games in terms of receiving yards in the final three games of the regular season.
The Steelers drafted Diontae Johnson in the third round in 2019, and he played right out of the gate and was involved from day 1.
I’m not sure how anyone can say with a straight face that Chase Claypool won’t have an impact with the Steelers in 2020.