Chase Claypool is the Steelers New JuJu Smith-Schuster
As the Pittsburgh Steelers offense yet again fails to impress in a loss over Miami, there has been a lot of rising tension building within the locker room.
This week it was Steelers slot wide receiver Chase Claypool who had some choice words after the game.
There are a lot of ways to frame Claypool's words as it could be a direct shot at the quarterback play not targeting him downfield. Claypool may also just be referring to the offensive structure and play-calling as a whole, singling out offensive coordinator Matt Canada, who has had a lot of fans and analysts alike calling for his removal. The problem is it's both, but that has become a recurring theme now in Canada's tenure.
What Claypool is going through is not too dissimilar to what a former Steelers slot wide receiver, Juju Smith-Schuster went through at the latter part of his Steelers career. Smith-Schuster, as we all know, went from a 9.2 average depth of target (ADOT) from 2017 to 2019 with a healthy Ben Roethlisberger (along with Todd Haley and Randy Fichtner as offensive coordinators), to a 6.0 ADOT via Pro Football Reference during post-Roethlisberger elbow surgery (with Canada at offensive coordinator) from 2020-2021.
As it currently sits through 7 weeks of play, Smith-Schuster is sitting at a 7.7 ADOT on the season and while it is a far cry from his time with a healthy Roethlisberger, he is setting a career high in his yards after the catch per reception at a 9.2. As it stands right now, Smith-Schuster is currently on pace for a 1270-yard season in his first season with the Kansas City Chiefs which would be his best season since 2018 when he posted 1426 yards.
While Claypool's ADOT is still decent at a 9.8, it's still down from his career high in his rookie year back in 2020 where he finished with a 13.2 ADOT.
The point to take away from all of these numbers is the Steelers have never lacked talent at their respective skill positions, they simply don't have the right play-caller and obviously, the corpse of Roethlisberger, Mitchell Trubisky and Kenny Pickett just haven't been up to the standard.
These are two terrific calls here involving two different wide receivers on a double move out of the slot, with both guys open for a big play in these respective games. While both quarterbacks have differing processes here, the problem is they both end with a similar result, a missed opportunity for a big play.
While Pickett is a rookie and we won't dive too deep into his process here (stay tuned for later in the week), Roethlisberger is an experienced vet who overshoots Smith-Schuster here. While these are good play calls here, they are a dime a dozen in what is a cesspool of bad sequencing.
"It's a little harder to score when it's like a 10-15 play drive, because everything has to go right. If you're nickel and diming, you get 5 yards per play, which is fine for time of possession, but sometimes we just want to go score now," Claypool told the media.
Missed opportunities do happen as it's hard to always bat 1.000, but the problem is how big they end up being for the Steelers in these situations which all goes back to the play calling at hand. When you're forcing the defense on the field consistently due to a lack of scoring drives, missed opportunities are bound to creep its head up when the Steelers' offense doesn't create enough opportunities to make a consistent enough margin for victory.
Claypool had more constructive comments after the Miami game where he was asked by the media if the offense is close to putting it together.
"I mean, I feel like I've heard that every week, you know? How close are we? I think it's too late in the season to be close to anything. I think if we're close, we have to get there next week," he said.
With the Steelers visiting the 6-0 Eagles next week and their bye week looming on the horizon, this could potentially end up being Canada's last chance to get his offense right. With the lack of quality quarterback play under him involving four different QBs, along with the regression of talented wide receivers under his tenure and the mounting criticism out of the locker room involving the offense, the writing could be on the wall.
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