Chase Claypool

Fantasy Upside

Chase Claypool had himself a fine rookie season. He finished with 62 catches for 873 yards and tied for the team lead with nine touchdowns, including a three-touchdown performance against the Eagles in Week 5. Claypool had at least 50 receiving yards in seven of his last nine games and should continue to be a key cog in the Steelers' attack.

Fantasy Downside

Claypool was pretty quiet near the end of 2020, however. He went without a touchdown from Weeks 12-16 and had four or fewer catches in Weeks 13-16. He did leave a strong final note in Week 17 with a 5-101-1 line against the Browns and a 5-59-2 line in the playoffs against the Browns, though he was clearly behind JuJu and Johnson in that game. Could that carry over to 2021? Possibly. But he gave himself a good base in 2020 to build off of.

2021 Bottom Line

Claypool saw over 100 targets as a rookie and has already built a good relationship with Ben Roethlisberger. He's probably behind Diontae Johnson in the pecking order, but it will be really interesting to watch between Claypool and Smith-Schuster. Claypool is actually right behind Johnson in drafts, currently, going in the sixth round. The Steelers will move the ball plenty for Claypool to get plenty of opportunities.

Week 15 vs Bengals

Claypool has hit a bit of a rookie wall, but did get back to his usual snap count of about 2/3 of the snaps against the Bills. Of course, that only resulted in 15 yards on three catches and he's scoreless in his last three games. Claypool is the lowest of the top three Steelers wideouts and comes in at No. 34 in our half-PPR rankings, still right in the WR3 mix for the playoffs.

Week 13 vs Washington

Claypool continues to see between 60-65% of the Steelers' offensive snaps and has hovered around 50-60 yards over the last three games. He's also always has a good chance to find the end zone, He has five straight games with double-digit fantasy points in PPR. Good chance he makes it six against Washington.