2020 SCU Awards: Steelers’ “Best player addition of the Year”
Steel City Underground presents the 5th annual SCU Awards. Our panel of contributors all voted on various awards for the Steelers based on their performances in 2020. Comment and let us know if you agree or disagree with our winners and nominees.
Steel City Underground awards the “Best player addition of the Year” honors to the free agent or rookie player that had the strongest performance, or the greatest impact, on the Steelers’ 2020 season.
The Steelers stayed relatively quiet during the 2020 free agency period, with tight end Eric Ebron, punter Jordan Berry, and fullback Derek Watt being the three most noteworthy signings.
Pittsburgh desperately needed help at tight end going into 2020 and Ebron came through with a solid season, catching 56 passes for 558 yards and five touchdowns. He served as a relatively reliable target for Ben Roethlisberger for most of the season but, unfortunately, slipped at the end of the season where he dropped far too many passes.
Derek Watt filled in admirably on special teams for Tyler Matakevich who left in free agency. However, he was a bit injury-plagued and did not have a significant role on offense in 2020.
The Steelers cut Berry in training camp and brought him back later in the season when Dustin Colquitt proved himself a liability during the first couple of games. Berry played well after the Steelers re-signed him before their Week 6 game against the Tennessee Titans, pinning teams inside the 20-yard line on 40 percent of his punts.
Chase Claypool
While the Steelers’ free-agent class was a bit lackluster, they drafted very well and came away with three high-impact players: offensive guard Kevin Dotson, edge-rusher Alex Highsmith, and Chase Claypool, the winner of Steel City Underground’s “Best player addition of the Year” award.
Highsmith and Dotson played at a starter-caliber level while filling in for injured players and will hopefully serve as valuable pieces for the Steelers moving forward.
However, Claypool made his mark on the 2020 season immediately, catching an 84-yard touchdown pass in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos, before fully breaking out in Week 4 against the Eagles with a record-breaking four-touchdown game. He also finished the season strong, catching 10 passes for 160 yards and three touchdowns in the Steelers’ back-to-back matchups against the Cleveland Browns in Week 17 and the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs.
Claypool served as a mismatch for the Steelers all season long with his athleticism and gave the coaching staff, as well as Roethlisberger, another significant chess piece to work with. He especially made a name for himself in the red zone, scoring 11 total touchdowns; nine receiving, and two rushing, not counting his two touchdown catches in the playoffs. His performance in that department tied Louis Lipps (1984) for the most touchdowns by a rookie wide receiver in Steelers history and tied for sixth-most in NFL history for a rookie wide receiver.
Claypool also broke the franchise record for the most receptions by a Steelers rookie with 62, and nearly surpassed JuJu Smith-Schuster for the most receiving yards by a rookie as well.
No free agent or 2020 NFL draft pick had a greater impact on the Steelers’ season than Claypool, and hopefully, for Pittsburgh, he can build on that performance and grow into a larger role next season.
