Steely McBeam
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- Mar 20, 2019
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The Steelers know how to find great receivers. They also seem to know how to handle diva receivers. A recent article on the team’s official website suggests that they perhaps have another one.
Consider this excerpt from Bob Labriola of Steelers.com regarding 2020 rookie Chase Claypool: “Claypool didn’t need very long to establish himself as a difference-maker, as a receiver capable of making plays down the field, and he was the offense’s primary deep threat throughout the season. If there was a negative, it was that it seemed as though Claypool’s diva quotient increased consistently over the course of his rookie season. Whether that turns into a problem or comes to be viewed in the future as growing pains will develop over time.”
Diva quotient? Claypool? He seemed to be anything but a diva in 2020, especially since the Steelers endured years of Antonio Brown. Also, it wasn’t Claypool but JuJu Smith-Schuster who was riling up opponents last year with his pre-game logo dancing and his gratuitous (and ill-advised) “Browns is the Browns” comment before a playoff loss to Cleveland.
As noted on Sunday, Labriola has a different kind of access than most media members covering the Steelers. Thus, if Labriola is saying it publicly, it’s likely that other team employees are saying it privately.
So has Claypool privately displayed diva tendencies? It’s impossible to rule it out, given that the Steelers managed to keep Brown’s diva tendencies under wraps for most of his career.
It’s definitely something to watch, given Claypool’s performance in 2020, his potential for the coming years, and the possibility that he’ll eventually be on the brink of free agency — like Smith-Schuster currently is.