Inked...
Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Chase Claypool has signed his rookie deal. Claypool posted a picture on social media, even throwing in the awesome #stairwaytoseven hashtag as a cherry on top of the good news.
Claypool is now the fourth Steelers rookie to sign their contract ahead of camp, as Alex Highsmith, Anthony McFarland and Antoine Brooks Jr. have all signed their deals. Details have yet to be released, yet Claypool's (a second-round pick) is expected to have a four-year deal in the range of $1,579,416 to $952,995, per OverTheCap.
With the NFL recently revealing training camp will continue as scheduled despite ongoing COVID precautions/negotiations with the NFLPA for the upcoming season, rookies were able to report as early as Tuesday July 21. Teams are scheduled to fully have their full teams available on Tuesday July 28.
The selection of Claypool provides many things for the Steelers offense in 2020 and beyond, as Claypool provides a valuable presence in the red-zone and an excellent receiver playing along the boundary with his ball-skills.
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert on drafting Claypool:
"When we got down to the Senior Bowl and Coach Tomlin and I got up close on the practice field and watched his physicality and blocking drills, his physicality and special-teams drills, it really stood out" said Colbert to NBC's Mike Florio. "Plus he’s a 6’4”, 230-pound receiver that can get deep, and quite honestly we didn’t have that threat last year. We didn’t have that tall receiver that can just outrun coverage. We’ve always had that in the past with Nate Washington, Mike Wallace, or Martavis Bryant. Again, that was very attractive to us in the long term. In the short term we know Chase will be a special-teams contributor right out of the gate."
Donnie Druin is a Staff Writer with AllSteelers. Follow Donnie on Twitter @DonnieDruin, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
