Largely a non-factor over the first four weeks of the season, Chase Claypool has show signs of life over his last two games. The Notre Dame product registered a season-high 96 yards and one touchdown in Pittsburgh's upset of Tampa Bay on Sunday.
Somewhat widely available, should fantasy managers be scrambling to add the Steelers wideout?
Our fantasy football experts weigh in on the matter below.
Sean Koerner: Claypool is a WR3/4 who is coming off a spike week where he went for 7/96/1 against the Bucs. You’ll probably have to bid 5-10% of your FAAB in order to land him, so if you are desperate at WR, go for it.
Just keep in mind that he likely took advantage of Pat Freiermuth being out of the lineup — and when all pass catchers are healthy for Pittsburgh, Claypool is likely going to be the odd man out most weeks.
Pouring a bit more cold water on his impressive Week 6 performance — a lot of his production occurred once Mitchell Trubisky replaced the injured Kenny Pickett.
Chris Raybon: Claypool is running a route on 94% of dropbacks (great) but averaging a target on 16% of routes (not great). His biggest game of the season came with Pat Freiermuth (concussion) out of the lineup. Claypool will pop for a big game here and there but is not worth buying high on as the third or fourth option in a weak passing offense.
Samantha Previte: Claypool was phenomenal in what should have been a tough matchup against the Buccaneers. He caught all seven of his targets for 96 yards and a touchdown and tacked on a rush for eight yards as the Steelers picked up their second win of the year.
This was by far Claypool’s best game of the season as he tied Diontae Johnson with seven targets and outshined both Johnson and George Pickens from a yardage standpoint.
I would be wary of going all-in on Claypool based off this one game given his boom-or-bust tendencies and the struggles of the Steelers offense this season. That said, he does have a juicy matchup up next against the Dolphins, whose defense has allowed the seventh most fantasy points to wide receivers.
He could be a viable, risk/reward flex play in deeper leagues with four teams on bye.
