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The Pittsburgh Steelers have develop into identified over the previous decade-plus as being some of the competent within the league in drafting large receiver expertise, producing a protracted line of performers that features Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Martavis Bryant, Diontae Johnson, and most just lately, Chase Claypool, who’s coming off of a robust rookie season.
JuJu Smith-Schuster, one more identify in that checklist, has been among the many most efficient over the course of his rookie contract with the group. However if you happen to’ll discover, solely a kind of gamers above really signed a second contract with the group (the latter two after all usually are not eligible to take action but). Will he be the subsequent one?
He’s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March, however he’s coming off of a few curious seasons, with 2019 marred by harm, and Ben Roethlisberger’s unavailability, whereas his utilization this previous season made it troublesome for him to be environment friendly, even when he completed with 97 receptions and a career-high 9 touchdowns.
So the place does he put himself when evaluating to different receivers around the league? Throughout an interview earlier this month with Bart Scott and Alan Hahn, he gave a surprisingly modest reply to that query. “I’m probably like the number 32 receiver in the NFL right now”, he stated.
Smith-Schuster ranked ninth in receptions within the NFL final yr, which was seventh amongst large receivers, and his 9 receiving touchdowns tied him for tenth (eighth at his place). However with simply 831 receiving yards, he did rank thirty eighth within the league, or thirty sixth amongst receivers. He did rank about fifteenth at his place in catch charge.
He’s solely two seasons faraway from making the Professional Bowl, throughout a yr through which he caught 110 passes for 1426 yards, whereas scoring seven touchdowns, however his previous two seasons, as talked about above, have seen his notion as a high receiver take successful.
Coming off of the 2018 season, Smith-Schuster was being considered as one of many subsequent nice younger large receivers, and at 24 years previous, he’s nonetheless younger with loads of upside, however based mostly upon his reply to the query, he additionally understands what the numbers say.
“I simply know that there’s a whole lot of nice receivers on the market”, he stated, “and I’m nonetheless making an attempt to be considered one of them, so that you’ve received to maintain pushing”.
We’re, after all, in a large receiver renaissance proper now, with many nice younger gamers coming into the league in recent times, from A.J. Brown and D.Okay. Metcalf to Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb, and the aforementioned Claypool.
In different phrases, one factor Smith-Schuster is definitely proper about is that there’s loads of competitors with regards to rating large receivers. The place does he rank? Greater or decrease than 32? Or proper about there? And the place will he rank after the 2021 season—wherever he’s?
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