It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We’ve run through 20 quarterbacks and 40 running backs; that means it’s time to get to the deepest and most varied position! That’s right, we’re on to the wide receivers! Today, I’ve decided to take a look at the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver corps. That’s right, it’s 2021 JuJu Smith-Schuster, 2021 Diontae Johnson, and 2021 Chase Claypool. And yes, I wrote this in a generic enough way to use it as an intro to all three. And also yes, I stole this from the Buccaneers’ WR corps intro! Great catch!
On to whichever player is in the title!
JuJu Smith-Schuster ADP & AAV:
Average Draft Position (HPPR): WR29, Pick 78
Average Auction Value: $2.0 (WR34)
JuJu Smith-Schuster Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Rec% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec |
| 2020 | 16 | 14 | 128 | 97 | 831 | 9 | 9.14 | 6.06 | 75.8% | 6.49 | 8.57 |
| 2019 | 12 | 12 | 70 | 42 | 552 | 3 | 4.38 | 2.63 | 60.0% | 7.89 | 13.14 |
| 2018 | 16 | 13 | 166 | 111 | 1426 | 7 | 10.38 | 6.94 | 66.9% | 8.59 | 12.85 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tgt | HPPR Pts/Tgt | PPR Pts/Tgt |
| 2020 | 137.1 | 185.6 | 234.1 | 8.6 | 11.6 | 14.6 | 1.07 | 1.45 | 1.83 |
| 2019 | 71.2 | 92.2 | 113.2 | 5.9 | 7.7 | 9.4 | 1.02 | 1.32 | 1.62 |
| 2018 | 185.9 | 241.4 | 296.9 | 11.6 | 15.1 | 18.6 | 1.12 | 1.45 | 1.79 |
| Year | Air Yards | aDOT | YAC | YAC/Tgt | YAC/Rec | AYMS | Tgt MS |
| 2020 | 703 | 5 | 409 | 3.20 | 4.22 | 15% | 20% |
| 2019 | 707 | 10.1 | 229 | 3.27 | 5.45 | 23% | 17% |
| 2018 | 1394 | 8.4 | 672 | 4.07 | 6.11 | 26% | 24% |
2021 JuJu Smith-Schuster Fantasy Football Overview:
Close your eyes and think about how JuJu Smith-Schuster was in 2020. What do you picture? Do you see a guy who barely produced for fantasy football? Well, you’re probably right. Or, probably wrong, depending where you look. JuJu finished his 2020 campaign with ten-of-sixteen games inside the top-36 at wide receiver, including three WR1 weeks tossed in there, in half-PPR.
JuJu Smith-Schuster, if you cover up the yardage, was one of the more prolific wide receivers in 2020. Four wide receivers had more than ten games with 6 or more receptions in 2020: Stefon Diggs, Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, and JuJu Smith-Schuster. He’s become what Jarvis Landry used to be in Miami: lots of targets, lots of receptions, and very few yards. He also ended the year with 97 receptions for 9 touchdowns. JuJu was one of three wide receivers to finish the year with at least 9 touchdowns and at least 95 receptions. The rest? Davante Adams and Tyler Lockett.
Now, I’m not saying that he belongs in the WR1 discussion. He barely made these lists, and that can’t be overstressed. But, what I wanted to say with this exercise is that JuJu Smith-Schuster provided week-to-week value, and ended up with some gaudy hidden numbers if you stared directly at 831 receiving yards.
2021 JuJu Smith-Schuster Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: $2
JuJu Smith-Schuster Auction Value:
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
JuJu is currently the last wide receiver going on the Pittsburgh Steelers, by about six picks. That means that if you want JuJu, you can wait until both Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson are off the board and take JuJu! It’s really easy! If you wanted JuJu, but someone takes him, then take whichever of Claypool or Diontae come off the board last. There’s a lot of value to be had in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ passing game, and I am leaning into getting one of the guys at their current price.
It’s hard to say who will emerge as a top-fifteen WR in that offense. I don’t think JuJu has that in his range of outcomes this season, but I do think that he finishes as a solid WR2/WR3.
Best Case Scenario:
Ben’s elbow starts to feel better, and they let JuJu get ever so slightly further downfield. He gets 100 catches for 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Worst Case Scenario:
JuJu continues his high-target, low-depth of target pace, and finishes with 100 catches for 115 yards.
Check out all our 2021 player profiles, here.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brookward/26046292738 under CC BY SA 2.0]
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