WR Chase Claypool embraces becoming significant part of Steelers’ run attack
The only NFL player listed as a “wide receiver” who had more carries during Week 1 of the season than Chase Claypool was Deebo Samuel, a player who might as well officially change his position to “WR/RB” after he had more than 500 rushing yards during the regular season and playoffs for the San Francisco 49ers last season.
Claypool is not used like Samuel, nor does he want to be a quasi full-time “running back” like that. But that he got six carries in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season opener last week is at least another method by which Claypool can stay involved in the offense.
“It allows for extra touches, so definitely it’s great,” Claypool said after practice Friday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “If the pass game isn’t going, I can warm up through the ground, which I think is a cool element of that.
“But we will see how the next week turns; that might just have been a one-game thing, or it might keep happening. We will see.”
No other true wide receiver in the NFL had more than four carries in Week 1. Claypool was second on the Steelers in carries and his 36 rushing yards led the team in the 23-20 overtime victory. Steelers running backs combined for 13 carries.
Interestingly, no other Steelers wide receiver had a carry. A second-round pick in 2020, Claypool had 24 carries over 31 games over his first two seasons in the NFL.
“Some of it was just the formation, and we’re always talking matchups and things like that,” offensive coordinator Matt Canada said in explaining Claypool’s usage in the running game against the Bengals. “There’re certain reasons in a game why it is that we’ve got different guys that can run (jet sweeps) at different times.
“In that plan, we had some looks we felt were good. Chase has done a good job with that. I thought some of those plays were pretty big plays for us… with production we had six for 36… It won’t always be him but in that game, it kind of fell that way.”
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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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