Chase Claypool

[FFFAN]

Why no love for this guy. 6'4 240, amazing combine and great film vs good competition. Trying to understand why he's not in the Higgins Pittman range or better.

[StripesOfKC]

For me personally he plays slower than his 40 time with little refinement on routes and broke out late.
I don’t doubt the ceiling, especially considering that the Steelers took him, but that is enough to make me think twice on putting him into the Reagor/Higgins/Mims/Aiyuk/Pittman/Shenault/Edwards tier

[Gator Sens]

For me personally he plays slower than his 40 time with little refinement on routes and broke out late.
I don’t doubt the ceiling, especially considering that the Steelers took him, but that is enough to make me think twice on putting him into the Reagor/Higgins/Mims/Aiyuk/Pittman/Shenault/Edwards tier

Nice breakdown.

[FantasyFreak]

There was a very early narrative that he wasn't that good. The FF community tends to be a bit over their heads (IMO) overall, on their scouting ability. The Steelers appear to have missed on Washington, but hit on Dinotae. Hit on Juju, obviously hit on AB. The Steelers seem to know what they are doing a lot more than the FF community with WR's in the post first round, but IDK either. If he ever gets transitioned to "move TE", look out. Juju is a UDFA next year, and the fact the Steeers drafted this guy top 50 means something to me. Bell, Conner, nobody on FF boards were talking these guys up like they would be top end FF players at any point. I tend to agree he is a value right now, if that is what you are saying.

[ericanadian]

For me personally he plays slower than his 40 time with little refinement on routes and broke out late.
I don’t doubt the ceiling, especially considering that the Steelers took him, but that is enough to make me think twice on putting him into the Reagor/Higgins/Mims/Aiyuk/Pittman/Shenault/Edwards tier

Pittman has a breakout age 0.3 years earlier than Claypool and Aiyuk is 0.3 years later. He’s certainly raw, but I’m not sure the breakout age is the defining problem for him.

[StripesOfKC]

For me personally he plays slower than his 40 time with little refinement on routes and broke out late.
I don’t doubt the ceiling, especially considering that the Steelers took him, but that is enough to make me think twice on putting him into the Reagor/Higgins/Mims/Aiyuk/Pittman/Shenault/Edwards tier

Pittman has a breakout age 0.3 years earlier than Claypool and Aiyuk is 0.3 years later. He’s certainly raw, but I’m not sure the breakout age is the defining problem for him.

Personally Aiyuk was DND for me due to his really high breakout age, but 1st round capital on a team where he should get a starting role soon is why he is a tier above. Would rather have Claypool at his ADP than Aiyuk

Pittman's breakout age gives me pause too but USC had a genuinely crowded WR room that I am a bit more willing to forgive and he is at least polished to the level you would expect of a relatively later breakout. I don't have the link on me but there is some precedent of 20-year old breakouts panning out though it is not common. Really hard to find 21 year old breakouts do the same.

I wouldn't dispute Claypool over Laviska or Aiyuk, but breakout age is a huge predictor for WRs and enough to be a red flag in this case.

[CL3VELANDBR0WNS]

I'm in the early 2nd round range in one league and did my due diligence on him.

There are next to no comparable players at WR. I also just don't know where he fits in year 1. He feels like he'd fit best in the "big slot" mold based on his profile but JuJu/Diontae are so versatile they'll probably be trying to get them into favorable match-ups in any way possible.

My big takeaway is that Claypool has a very underwhelming yardage total and 3-6 TDs as kind of a decoy in my best estimate for this year. For next year, I might not want anything to do with this team. The defense will be too good to keep them from picking high enough to draft a QB and Big Ben may be close to done.

I like guys like Shenault and Mcfarland better in the mid-late 2nd.

[MFundercover]

There was a very early narrative that he wasn't that good. The FF community tends to be a bit over their heads (IMO) overall, on their scouting ability. The Steelers appear to have missed on Washington, but hit on Dinotae. Hit on Juju, obviously hit on AB. The Steelers seem to know what they are doing a lot more than the FF community with WR's in the post first round, but IDK either. If he ever gets transitioned to "move TE", look out. Juju is a UDFA next year, and the fact the Steeers drafted this guy top 50 means something to me. Bell, Conner, nobody on FF boards were talking these guys up like they would be top end FF players at any point. I tend to agree he is a value right now, if that is what you are saying.

Well said

[ericanadian]

There was a very early narrative that he wasn't that good. The FF community tends to be a bit over their heads (IMO) overall, on their scouting ability. The Steelers appear to have missed on Washington, but hit on Dinotae. Hit on Juju, obviously hit on AB. The Steelers seem to know what they are doing a lot more than the FF community with WR's in the post first round, but IDK either. If he ever gets transitioned to "move TE", look out. Juju is a UDFA next year, and the fact the Steeers drafted this guy top 50 means something to me. Bell, Conner, nobody on FF boards were talking these guys up like they would be top end FF players at any point. I tend to agree he is a value right now, if that is what you are saying.

They kind of hit every second one though, so you’re in for an off draft year.

2010 Emmanuel Sanders (& Antonio Brown in the 6th)
2013 Markus Wheaton
2014 Martavis Bryant (ya, career blew up, but he was pretty solid talent)
2015 Sammie Coates
2017 Juju
2018 James Washington
2019 Diontae Johnson
2020 Chase Claypool

[jjleurquin]

There was a very early narrative that he wasn't that good. The FF community tends to be a bit over their heads (IMO) overall, on their scouting ability. The Steelers appear to have missed on Washington, but hit on Dinotae. Hit on Juju, obviously hit on AB. The Steelers seem to know what they are doing a lot more than the FF community with WR's in the post first round, but IDK either. If he ever gets transitioned to "move TE", look out. Juju is a UDFA next year, and the fact the Steeers drafted this guy top 50 means something to me. Bell, Conner, nobody on FF boards were talking these guys up like they would be top end FF players at any point. I tend to agree he is a value right now, if that is what you are saying.

interesting considering Washington had a good 2nd year, not sure how he's a miss. did more with his targets last year than either Diontae or JuJu, so wouldn't that make him a hit as well?

[jcc6fd]

Mizelle's August ADP still has Claypool as the 24th rookie off the board. That makes him at very late 2nd/early third in most leagues. Not saying you shouldn't like any of the other WR's drafted in Round 1/2 ahead of him, but the fact that you can get a 2nd round WR with his measurable, good collegiate production and drafted by the Steelers makes him a complete steal. The thing that is most surprising to me is the space between him and the other round 2 WRs in ADP. Higgins, Mims, Pittman are at 13, 14, 15 but you can get Claypool at 24? almost a full round later. There looks like a lot of backup RB fluff and both QBs being in front of Claypool.

[mild]

I don't think anyone is outright sleeping on him; this is just an extremely deep WR class.

There are other guys I'd rather go and get in the mid 2nd, but if you can land him in the 3rd it's money.

Personally, I trust the Steelers ability to evaluate. No team finds WR's better in the draft than them... and they outright skipped over JK Dobbins to take him, too - so they felt like they needed more help at WR than at RB (an interesting take).

[FFFAN]

I told you!