Steelers News: Brian Kelly, Notre Dame coach, lauds Chase Claypool’s versatility

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2020 NFL Draft is officially over. After finishing last year 8-8, the Steelers, and their vast fan base, have another long offseason awaiting them. Just because the games are done doesn’t mean we stop providing you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over throughout the offseason!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at Brian Kelly’s comments regarding Chase Claypool’s ridiculous versatility heading into the NFL.

Let’s get to the news:

• The Steelers’ top pick, Chase Claypool, is anything but a one-trick pony.

Notre Dame coach lauds versatility that WR Chase Claypool brings to Steelers

By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Chase Claypool’s four years at Notre Dame included just about everything on the football field short of playing with marching band at halftime.

The second-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Claypool lined up on the short side and wide sides of the field. He played in the slot.

If Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly needed a gunner on the special teams, Claypool probably was the first to raise his hand, too.

It didn’t matter if he was part of the designed play, Claypool found a way to get involved.

“He can come down and block anybody. Safeties, rovers, corners, he can get a mismatch on them,” Kelly said Tuesday in a conference call.

In 2019, Claypool produced career bests with 66 catches, 1,037 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns in 13 games while mainly lining up on the short side of the field as Notre Dame’s “W” receiver.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• The Steelers are putting ink to paper on some of their undrafted free agent players’ contracts.

Steelers sign six undrafted free agents to contracts

By: Joe Rutter, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed the first six of the 10 undrafted free agents they agreed to terms with Saturday upon conclusion of the NFL Draft.

Signing contracts Tuesday were linebackers Leo Lewis of Mississippi State and John Houston of USC, cornerbacks James Pierre of Florida Atlantic and Trajan Bandy of Miami (Fla), defensive end Calvin Taylor of Kentucky and punter Corliss Waitman of South Alabama and Mississippi State.

Lewis, a 6-foot-2, 245-pound senior, set a career-high with 5.5 tackles for loss in 2019. He added one sack, two pass breakups, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. Lewis entered Mississippi State as the nation’s top inside linebacker recruit out of Brookhaven (Miss.) and was a four-year contributor and played in 51 career games.

Lewis was named the SEC defensive freshman of the year in 2016.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• A look back at Day 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Labriola on Day 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft

By: Bob Labriola, Steelers.com

Depending upon your age on March 14, 1967, maybe you spent the day in your house, the one you bought for $14,250, and sat in front of your black-and-white television and watched the newest episodes of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” and “Hogan’s Heroes.” Or maybe you decided to go for a drive in your car, not too far though, because after all gas was up to 33 cents a gallon. But if watching some TV or going for a drive didn’t interest you, maybe you turned on the radio to listen to songs from that latest album from the Beatles, the one they titled “Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

What you didn’t do, and what you wouldn’t have done all day that day was pay any attention to the NFL Draft. Even if you cared, how could you? It wasn’t on television. It wasn’t broadcast on the radio. Besides, your Steelers didn’t have a first-round pick anyway, as usual. Traded it away for a couple of old guys you never heard of, as usual.

That was an era when the initials S-O-S came to stand for “same old Steelers,” and that derogatory acronym was all-encompassing. It could have referred to the team managing only five winning seasons in its previous 20, or maybe it was seen as being reflective of a draft “strategy” that had the team make only five first-round picks in the previous 10, and the only one of those who was any good was a future Hall of Fame quarterback named Len Dawson they never played and then traded away after three seasons. Probably for another guy you never heard of.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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