Fantasy Football Player Notes

Despite missing one full game and a large portion of another, Johnson finished with 144 targets in 2020, which ranked sixth among wide receivers. Unfortunately, he was not particularly efficient with them, averaging just 6.4 yards per target. Part of his issues were drops, but Ben Roethlisberger's drop-down mentality certainly didn't help, either. Still, chasing targets at wide receiver is never a bad thing. If Johnson would've averaged just 7.4 yards per target (easily attainable), he would've finished as the WR14. He should be a safe high-floor WR2 with upside for top-12 numbers.

Claypool may have finished as the WR19 on the season, but his year was littered with lackluster performances. He posted WR3 or better type numbers in just 50 percent of the games last year, which was tied with Jamison Crowder and DeVante Parker for 34th among wide receivers. His four-touchdown game in Week 5 really catapulted his numbers at season's end, as he failed to top 59 yards in 11-of-16 games, making him a touchdown-or-bust option most weeks. With Ben Roethlisberger's arm strength seemingly deteriorating by the day, it's tough to see Claypool having a true breakout season in 2021, as he relies on those high value targets more than JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson do. Claypool is an upside pick for sure, but not one I'd bet heavily on.

Though it was better than his 2019 season, there were plenty of ups and downs from Smith-Schuster in 2020. Part of the reason for inconsistency is due to Ben Roethlisberger's volatile performance, but even if he rights the ship in 2021, the bigger part of the problem for Smith-Schuster is the competition he has for targets. Chase Claypool will be entering his sophomore season, Diontae Johnson seemed to figure out his drops as the year went on, and they added Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth in the first two rounds of the draft. Suddenly, Smith-Schuster might be third in line for targets in this offense. He'll probably finish as a WR3, but I just don't see the upside to drafting him as anything more than a low-end WR3.