The news earlier this week that Frisman Jackson was replacing Ike Hilliard as Steelers wide receivers coach was something of a surprise given that the team hadn't announced Hilliard wouldn't be returning.
But there obviously was a disconnect on what was being expected of the Steelers receivers, who were plagued by drops in 2020 when the team led the NFL in dropped passes.
According to Pro Football Reference, the Steelers cleaned that up somewhat in 2021, seeing their dropped passes fall from 43 in 2020 to 33 in 2021. And the receivers improving in that facet were a big part of that, as Diontae Johnson went from leading the league with 13 drops to having just five in 2021, despite seeing 25 more targets than he had the previous year.
The result was a Pro Bowl season for Johnson in which the third-year receiver set career highs with 107 catches for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns.
That was the positive occurrence for the Steelers wide receivers in 2021. The opposite of that would be the seemingly stalled progression of second-year receiver Chase Claypool.
At first glance, Claypool's numbers are very much in line with what he did as a rookie in 2020. Despite playing one fewer game, Claypool had 59 catches for 860 yards and two touchdowns in 2021. He also had 96 rushing yards on 14 attempts. In 2020, he had 62 receptions for 873 yards and nine touchdowns, while rushing 10 times for 16 yards and two touchdowns.
Again, he played in one fewer game and had four fewer targets in 2021 than he had in 2020, so on the surface, other than the decline in touchdowns, his numbers were nearly identical.
But given Mike Tomlin's long-standing premise that players take the biggest jump in their career between Year 1 and Year 2, Claypool's season has to be viewed as a disappointment.
And that's where Jackson will be tasked with bringing out the best in the former second-round draft pick.
Claypool has immense talent. Though he was the 11th wide receiver selected in the 2020 draft, the big-play threat is tied for sixth in the draft class with 121 receptions. His 1,733 receiving yards are fourth-most in the draft class, while his 11 touchdowns are tied for fourth, as well.
But given his size (6-foot-4, 238 pounds), and athletic profile, there's always an expectation for more. He and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Calvin Johnson are the only wide receivers in NFL Scouting Combine history to measure in at over 6-foot-4, 230 pounds to also run a sub-4.5-second 40-yard dash.
All too often, he left his feet in an attempt to make contested catches downfield. Just as often, he failed to come down with those passes.
Perhaps the expectations for Claypool are too high because of his athletic profile. There should be, however, an expectation for Claypool to be better in his third season.
In his two seasons as wide receivers coach with the Panthers, Jackson helped Robbie Anderson to a career year in 2020 when he caught 95 passes for 1,096 yards with three touchdowns. D.J. Moore also thrived, catching 66 passes for 1,193 yards, a career-best 18.1 yards per catch average. The Panthers also got production from slot receiver Curtis Samuel, who had 77 receptions for 851 yards.
That netted Samuel a three-year, $34.5-million contract in free agency with Washington.
Last season, only Moore had a 1,000-yard season, catching 93 passes for 1,157 yards and four touchdowns, while Anderson took a step back with 53 catches for 519 yards and five scores, but that was largely because the Panthers had a mess at quarterback. Sam Darnold, Cam Newton and P.J. Walker all started games at quarterback for Carolina, with none posting a passer rating above 71.9.
Jackson also has a reputation from his playing days as a hard-working player who forged a five-year NFL career despite not being the most talented player. He had just 40 career receptions, and made the transition from starting quarterback at Northern Illinois and then Western Illinois to wide receiver.
Jackson was the starting quarterback as a junior at Western Illinois before transitioning to wide receiver as a senior. He still holds the school record for single-game receptions (14) and receiving yards (289).
Coaxing Claypool's maximum out of him will go a long way toward whether Jackson is successful in this job or not.
And with uncertainty at quarterback, the Steelers need Claypool to raise his performance level, especially considering JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Washington and Ray-Ray McCloud all are headed for free agency.
Getting Johnson and Claypool to clean up their penalties also will be an issue.
Johnson wound up leading all NFL receivers in penalties with nine. Claypool was second with eight.
Johnson's main issue was false starts. He had seven. But those are something that are easily cleaned up.
Claypool, meanwhile, had three penalties for offensive pass interference, and one each for illegal formation, unsportsmanlike conduct, an illegal block above the waist, a facemask and unnecessary roughness.
Those are technique issues that Jackson also will have to clean up.
