No longer ‘just a return man,’ Ray-Ray McCloud’s WR role grows for Steelers

Over his first two seasons in the NFL, Ray-Ray McCloud was used sparingly. Particularly on offense.

Since joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, though, late in the summer of 2020, McCloud has worked his way into a significant role on offense. In fact, over the past month, McCloud statistically has been the Steelers’ No. 2 wide receiver.

“Early in my career, that used to actually bother me that it was just ‘return man, return man,’ that (others used to describe his positional role),” McCloud said after practice Thursday. “But once I honed in (on receiver), I just said, ‘Let’s just make plays.’ ”

Steelers WR Ray-Ray McCloud on Ben’s likely final home game:

“More than a teammate, more than a brother in the locker room, he’s a guy Ive been a fan of.” pic.twitter.com/jis6Kjw8fI

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) December 30, 2021

McCloud has kept his role as the Steelers’ primary punt and kick returner while also ascending the depth chart on offense. Over the past four games since he missed a loss at Cincinnati because of covid-19, McCloud has ranked second among Steelers’ wide receivers in snaps played, receiving routes run (per Pro Football Focus) and times thrown to. He’s also third in catches in that time.

While much of McCloud’s increased role can be attributed to the loss of JuJu Smith-Schuster for the season because of shoulder surgery, McCloud zoomed past veteran James Washington in a seemingly unrelated development. And he’s been looked to more often by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger than Chase Claypool, too.

“I knew eventually it was going to take care of itself on the offensive end,” McCloud said of his role in the NFL after being a sixth-round pick following a college career at Clemson. “So for me, I just come to work every day; every day the rent is due.”

McCloud has taken the vast majority of his offensive snaps running out of the slot, and over the past month he’s been responsible for the vast majority of the Steelers’ routes from there. The slot was Smith-Schuster’s primary role, and offensive coordinator Matt Canada attributed most of McCloud’s increased usage to that.

No. 1 receiver Diontae Johnson, Claypool and Washington are used more on the outside, so McCloud is almost the only option for the slot.

“We believe in Ray-Ray,” Canada said. “We believe in all our guys. Yeah, certainly (looking at) his number of opportunities, which I’m happy for him, probably you talk about JuJu is not here, right? (Injured veteran tight end Eric Ebron) is not here. Last week, (injured rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth) wasn’t here. So therefore, those opportunities are going to get spread around.”

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