Jaylen Samuels sets Steelers record for catches by a running back in win

In his first game in almost a month, Jaylen Samuels caught a pass during the Pittsburgh Steelers first possession Sunday. He added another catch on their second drive, too. And during their third possession, he had three more.

Samuels was well on his way to a historic receiving day for a Steelers running back.

The versatile second-year back had a career-high 13 catches for 73 yards during a 26-24 win against the Indianapolis Colts. No Steelers running back had ever made more than 12 catches in a game.

“Jaylen Samuels does a great job catching the ball in the backfield,” Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph said. “He did a good job today on a couple of third downs. (Samuels excels at) feeling grass, feeling zone defenders and working away from them.”

Down to only 4 occasions in Steelers history a player had more catches than Jaylen Samuels has today (13)
(A.Brown 3x, C.Hawkins)

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 3, 2019

After missing the past two games following a knee injury that required surgery, Samuels returned just in time to play the majority of the Steelers’ offensive snaps on a day James Conner (shoulder) and Benny Snell (knee) did not play.

Not only were the 13 receptions are the second most by an NFL running back this season, they tied for the fifth-most by any Steelers player for a game, regardless of position.

The only men to have more catches in a game for the Steelers are Antonio Brown, with two games of 14 catches (2016 and 2018) and one game with 17 catches (2015), and Courtney Hawkins, who had 14 catches on Nov. 1, 1998.

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