Steelers Star Drawing Concerning Chase Claypool Comparisons

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers are not a team that shies away from spending.

With the most expensive defense in the National Football League, it made sense that they were going to spend on the offensive side of the ball as well. Their big splash move of the offseason was to bring a top wide receiver talent to the team, especially as their George Pickens experiment turned out to be an overall failure. DK Metcalf was dealt to the Steelers from the Seattle Seahawks, leading to the Steelers eventually signing him to a pricy extension at five years, $150 million.

Now, after half of the first season of the deal, some are questioning the value of it. Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette took to his readers' chat to address some concerns about Metcalf, especially when it comes to contested catches.

An Issue Of Underperformance

"As for DK Metcalf, I still view him as an elite receiver, but he's not been great lately. Feels like he was making some contested catches early in the season and then turned into a rich man's Chase Claypool," Batko wrote.

Batko's comments come off the tails of this weeks' loss to the Chicago Bears, that saw the momentum shift early on due to issues on a contested pass to Metcalf. Backup quarterback Mason Rudolph went to target Metcalf down the side of the field early on, but left a little power off and the contested ball was brought down by Bears defensive back Nahshon Wright on a toe-tap catch.

Claypool's Meager Contract

Claypool drew the ire of many Steelers fans during his tenure with the team, as he had persistent issues with contested catches despite that theoretically being a strength of his when he was drafted to the team. He, however, only spent his rookie deal with the team. Over the course of four seasons with the Steelers, Claypool was guaranteed just $3.28 million and brought in a signing bonus of roughly $2.3 million.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf (4) catches a pass in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 11 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. The Bengals lost 34-12. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Steelers are currently paying Metcalf ten times Claypools' contract for four years each season. While it would be unfair to expect Metcalf to play ten times better than Claypool did during his time with the team, it is not entirely unreasonable to expect more out of Metcalf with how much he is being paid. It is important to recognize that some of the onus will fall on the quarterback play, but Metcalf is not playing like a $30 million per year wide receiver at this time in his career.

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