Steelers rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool wasn’t expecting to have a prominent role in last Sunday’s game against the Eagles, but he wound up as the star attraction in the 38-29 victory.
Claypool scored four touchdowns and was named the AFC offensive player of the week in what served as a coming out party of sorts for the second-round pick. It was an outing that caught notice around the league and it led quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to ask a question of Claypool as the Steelers get ready to face the Browns.
“The thing I told him after the game is he isn’t going to be able to sneak up on anybody,” Roethlisberger said, via Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “So how is he going to rise to the occasion now that people are going to be watching him?”
Claypool said the performance gives him more confidence in what he can do at the professional level, but that he’s “trying to stay the same as I’ve always been” after his breakout game. He also identified one way that his new fame could benefit the team.
“There might be a safety creeping over to my side or a corner might follow me,” Claypool said. “But it opens things for other people as well. I’m not too worried about it.”
That might not answer Roethlisberger’s question directly, but it does show how Claypool’s move into the limelight can benefit the team whether he’s the one catching the passes or not.