If there was a superlative award for which group’s outlook changed the most from before the start of the season to the end, the wide receivers would win it, hands down.
After 2015 they looked to be the most exciting unit of the offense with Antonio Brown being a human highlight reel and having backup from a group of talented young players. Martavis Bryant was a blazer that made spectacular catches and Markus Wheaton showed steady improvement, highlighted by his 200+ yard performance against the Seahawks last season.
Behind them were a group of speedsters in Darrius Heyward-Bey and Sammie Coates that looked to stretch the field, and much-touted route runner in Eli Rogers. Having six possible options, it seemed like nothing could go wrong with the group.
Then Bryant was suspended, Wheaton was placed on injured reserve, Coates broke his hand after an explosive game and Heyward-Bey would suffer a mid-season injury that kept him out of the lineup for weeks.
Think about it, that means behind Brown the Steelers had to rely on sixth, seventh and eight string receivers in Rogers, Cobi Hamilton, and eventually Demarcus Ayers.
Still, the Steelers’ offense found a way to move the ball through the air and Ben Roethlisberger developed rapports with the new wide receivers. Let’s dip into the film room to get more specific as to how that played out:
ANTONIO BROWN
I debated whether there was any point to even bringing up Brown, as he’s the best in the league and everyone knows how valuable he is to this team. But with the conversation on Brown shifting from his play to his off-the-field antics, even the national media has poked at the idea of the Steelers moving on from Brown.
So, with that, I’ll break down some things on the Steelers’ best wide receiver.
Strengths: Beyond Brown’s impeccable rapport with Roethlisberger to get open and be on the same page, Brown does things that terrify players in the secondary in each game. He’s not the fastest or the tallest or jumps the highest, but he does fundamental things so well that none of that matters.
Take this route for instance, you might’ve missed it considering Roethlisberger ended up throwing the ball right to the safety (it was dropped), but this move was a perfect example of Brown’s route running abilities in full effect:
Watch closely how he sets up Vontae Davis with three different jab steps in his move to get free. You might not notice it, but watch it a few times to see how just before the 20 yard-line, Brown takes a step his left, then a step back to his right, only to take a heavier step to his left before breaking to his right and losing Davis.
With each step, Brown posed another threat that Davis had to consider, which forces Davis’ mind, which is racing in the middle of a red-zone play, to have to try to make several calculations all within the blink of an eye.
On top of all that, Brown maintains his center-of-balance throughout the entire route. Most wide receivers would sacrifice their foundation to help sell a move like this by throwing their shoulders one way or the other, or finding some additional way to induce the cornerback into making a mistake; but Brown finds a way to do all that just with his feet, getting Davis to basically flail at the air for help.
If you’re sitting there thinking that this is just some average cornerback, you would do well to note that prior to this season, Davis had been to two consecutive Pro Bowls, is in the prime of his career at 28 years of age, and has 22 interceptions. Putting that into perspective, the closest cornerback the Steelers have had in the Tomlin era to get that many interceptions was DeShea Townsend with 21. The next closest was Ike Taylor with 14.
Weaknesses: Brown’s performance on the field has been so consistently good over the past four years that the worst things that can be said about him is that he does Facebook live videos in the locker room and celebrates too much.
The Facebook things I can agree with, but the idea of him being a diva that celebrates too much seems overblown; especially considering that he was only penalized three times. The first was something he didn’t think was bad because others had done it, the second was what he had been told by the NFL that he could do, and the third was a handshake that wasn’t over the top in the least.
As for Aditi Kinkhabwala‘s statement of seeing Brown sulk immediately after DeAngelo Williams’ playoff touchdown, I’ve looked at the film on that several times from all the camera angles and just don’t see the same description of the play.
She mentioned that Brown was open in the back of the end zone, but he was blocking the entire play. She also said he sulked over to the sideline immediately after the play, but Brown could be seen signalling to the officials that the play was a touchdown and waited for everyone else before leaving the field. Maybe there’s something else we’re missing, but as a guy who looks for as many things as I can on film, I’ve never seen it.
As for Brown’s mid-game skills, there really are no “weaknesses” in his game per se. The biggest knock on Brown is that his size allows him to be held and slowed down by bigger defensive backs more easily and that keeps him from his biggest games sometimes.
I’ve seen players like Richard Sherman, Stephon Gilmore and other cornerbacks basically grab hold of Brown while he gets into his footwork, breaking the rules in order to minimize Brown’s effectiveness, and getaway with it for almost an entire game. It’s gotten to the point that there are certain games in which he gets held almost as much as James Harrison does by offensive linemen, with it rarely being called.
Brown may have to find a way to sell those holds more to officials, as often this happens in the end zone. But other than that, the guy’s a superstar in this league and looks to be able to still do the great things that he does next year.
Value: In the debate of whether to sign Brown to a long contract now, trade him, or let him play out the last year of his contract, I’m on the side of signing him immediately. The guy is an elite playmaker that can be in his prime for the rest of Roethlisberger’s career, giving the Steelers’ offense the star it needs.
While the team also needs to get Le’Veon Bell under contract, Brown is just as important to the immediate future of this team. The only way I entertain any sort of trade for Brown is if some team comes calling with a Herschel Walker type of trade that gives the Steelers multiple first round picks and young talents that solve more problems for this roster.
SAMMIE COATES
Coates might have had the most disappointing and unfortunate year of any wide receiver on the Steelers roster, and that’s saying something considering Bryant and Wheaton’s situations.
Strengths: Coates started the year hot, being exactly what he was drafted to be as another deep option for Roethlisberger. He took the top off the Chiefs’ defense in their week 4 matchup on the first play of the game and consistently posed a threat that had to be considered in the early parts of the season.
His career game so far has obviously been what he did to the Jets the following week when he caught six passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns. What was unfortunate was how he suffered his hand injury that spiraled him into losing all the progress he made.
Weaknesses: Once Coates’ hand injuries occurred, you could see on film how it changed him as a player. After having 19 targets from Roethlisberger over the course of two games against the Chiefs and Jets, Coates wouldn’t even get that many targets in the nine remaining games he would play for the season.
Part of that was because he literally could not catch the ball with his hand injury and that swayed the Steelers away from planning around his abilities. He was still a deep target that could work as a distraction, but without the viable threat to defenses of him being able to catch the ball, the Steelers lost a major facet of their offense.
Not being targeted as the season continued definitely wore at Coates and you could see it in his confidence and chemistry with Roethlisberger.
Much like the early missed third down opportunity against the Patriots, in the playoffs, Coates lost whatever feel he had for Roethlisberger’s deep ball by the middle of the season.
Take a look here, as Coates beats his man to the outside but slows down just a hair to look for the ball:
That slight hesitation was enough to make him short of Roethlisberger’s deep ball. That’s what I saw a lot in Coates’ play after the injury in that his connection with Roethlisberger dissipated after he wasn’t being targeted.
That makes sense and isn’t really a huge knock on Coates’ profile, but it’s an unfortunate circumstance for this early stage of his career when he had a chance to make a name for himself in the absence of two of the Steelers’ top three receivers.
Value: Entering the third year of his rookie contract, Coates still has the opportunity to make a good name for himself in the NFL. He still has elite speed and could see a bump up in the depth chart should Wheaton not be re-signed during this offseason.
But Coates cannot afford to rest on those praises alone, he still has to work on getting to the ball in traffic and running sharper routes. While his calling card has been his height and straight line speed, the Steelers now have three other receivers just as young as Coates who want a spot on the roster under Brown and Bryant.
If Coates takes this offseason to polish his game, he may earn his keep when the Steelers have to consider re-signing him in two seasons.
DARRIUS HEYWARD-BEY
The wily veteran of the group, Heyward-Bey came into the league the same year as Mike Wallace but as a top ten overall pick that flopped for the Raiders. But he’s made a home for himself in Pittsburgh through solid special teams’ play and being a consistent speedster that helps spread the field for Roethlisberger.
Strengths: What the Steelers ultimately need in their utility receivers are ways for them to get open, particularly on third down situations when teams like to matchup in man-to-man coverage. Heyward-Bey has polished his route running skills enough over the years that he’s been able to play off his speed to beat defenders and give Todd Haley more options of where to line him up:
Watch how his drag route here comes from the top of the screen and works his way across the field. All Landry Jones has to do is wait for him to get more separation as only the fastest cornerbacks in the league could be able to keep up with Heyward-Bey after his route has crossed their face.
Having a receiver like that is a value which the Steelers recognize and will probably exploit next year on a couple occasions with the return of Bryant.
Weaknesses: Heyward-Bey also suffered an unfortunate injury in the middle of the season that changed his outlook on the team. While I didn’t see a decrease in his confidence or his connection with Roethlisberger, I did see a reluctance on the part of the coaching staff to put him in situations to be able to make big plays.
There were times when Hamilton, Rogers and Ayers would all be on the field while Heyward-Bey was healthy and sitting on the sidelines. That may have something to do with their questioning his health after the injury, or maybe them wanting to see what the younger guys could bring.
Outside of that, Heyward-Bey’s biggest weakness might be his ability to catch the ball in traffic. He’s not a jump ball extraordinaire, or even really one who’s made that part of his repertoire. That could make it difficult for him to see playing time if the Steelers start to favor their younger receivers.
Value: The Steelers have a solid veteran contract on Heyward-Bey that keeps him here until after the 2018 season with only taking up just over $1.3 million in cap space. That’s great considering the speed he brings to the offense.
You can see that raw speed kick in during plays like his touchdown against the Dolphins during the regular season, and he’s enough of a student of the game that he’s polished his route running and detail work on special teams to be reliable for multiple situations.
If nothing else, the Steelers know they have a hard-working speedy veteran for cheap that wants to find any way he can to stay on the team.
ELI ROGERS
Coming into the season I was not sold on the Rogers’ hype I had heard from training camp, as every year there seems to be that one guy that people talk about looking good in practices but never sees the field or ends up not being what he looked to be.
But Rogers brought that faith back as he worked his way up the depth chart and made the most of his opportunity with the team, possibly earning a longer term with the plays he made.
Strengths: Rogers’ greatest asset was the combination of his ability to run routes and his connection with Roethlisberger. Like Brown, Roger is not a speed demon or a tall wide receiver, but he does the little things right just enough to be valuable to the offense.
To highlight his route running skills, watch this move he puts on starting cornerback, Orlando Scandrick for the Cowboys:
Rogers puts a hard sell on this being a route to the flat, but in three steps does a complete reverse to beat Scandrick, who he knows is in man coverage and can bait away from the middle of the field.
Just as spectacular as the setup however is Rogers’ finish on the play. When he comes out of the route, look at where his head is at. He immediately looks for eye contact with his quarterback, that’s right out of the textbook when it comes to wide receivers when they know they’ve beaten their man in such a short space.
But not only does he make that eye contact, he maintains it all while he’s making his way into the endzone in the tightest of windows. That’s what puts him in position to make such a great catch for the score.
You can see throughout the season that Rogers seemed to have found some sort of connection with Roethlisberger in his ability to find ways to get open and to look for the ball without breaking his route. The third down catch he pulled off against the Ravens showed exactly that, as he ran with the Roethlisberger extending the play and extended to make a great catch.
Weaknesses: What Rogers might have to work on is making catches in traffic. Often when he was engaged with a defender I saw the concentration that made him such a reliable target for Roethlisberger break down.
That’s nothing out of the ordinary for any receiver, either, that’s just how football works. When someone has their hands on you, it becomes that much more difficult to focus on catching the ball.
Rogers is at his best when he can put moves on defenders that keep him free of their grasp or having them fight for the ball. During this offseason as he works on improving his athleticism and technique, it might do well for him to have plenty of sparring matches with some of the young cornerbacks in the Steelers’ secondary to win those fights.
Value: The Steelers are paying barely over half a million dollars for Rogers, who’s already showed a good deal of promise. He’s signed going into the 2017 season and if he continues to develop as a solid slot option for Roethlisberger, could find himself a good contract for 3-4 years to work in between Brown and Bryant where the Steelers have tried to make a home for Wheaton.
Rogers won’t carry the money tag that Wheaton will this offseason, as Wheaton, while injured this year, was a third round pick that’s made a decent enough highlight reel that he knows he can have a shot as a #2 wide receiver somewhere in the league that might pay him good money. Teams like the Eagles are desperate for good receivers and teams like the Steelers have their hands full in trying to figure out who to pay.
That may just be the door Rogers walks through to earn a solid veteran contract for this team and become more of a household name in Pittsburgh as he continues to develop that rapport with Roethlisberger.
COBI HAMILTON
Hamilton is a player that I went back and forth on throughout the season. He made plays in situations that were good in the sense that he performed his assignment accurately and made a good play on the ball, and there were times that when challenged you could see him be deterred by his opponents when facing good cornerbacks who try to cut off his routes.
Still, he did put on an uncommonly commendable performance for a player to come off the practice squad in the middle of the season and make several plays in limited opportunities. In just 28 targets, he caught 17 passes for an average of 13.8 yards per catch.
Strengths: From the younger group of receivers in Rogers, Ayers and Hamilton, it was Hamilton that stood out to me as the guy who would win the deep jump ball the best. His three touchdowns over the season all came from deep routes that he ran to stretch the defense and capitalized when his quarterback found an opening.
What underscored that was how none of them played a huge part into the Steelers season, as his first came against the Dolphins far too late in the game, his second was a great overtime play that beat the Browns in a game that was dubbed to be meaningless and his third was after the Patriots had all but finished off the Steelers in the AFC championship.
But that shouldn’t deter you from looking at the details of how he succeeded in his deep ball opportunities. Hamilton isn’t the sharpest route runner but he can sell a double move with his shoulders pretty well. Watch howe he sells this route:
That’s Brandon Carr, a nine-year veteran whom has started every single game of his career. Hamilton sets him up with a out-and-up move that gives him the inside seam on Carr, which gives Roethlisberger a solid target down the field.
Hamilton finishes the play by using his position to box out Carr from making a play on the ball, locating it and catching it at it’s highest point in order to secure the big play for the Steelers.
What Hamilton was able to show the Steelers in his limited opportunities is that he is a player which could be called upon for a big play to flip field position with deep passes such as this. He does not possess elite speed, but he has shown the potential to be a steady receiver.
Weaknesses: What I saw far too often for Hamilton was that that when defenders got their hands on him early, it could often knock him off his route and he was unable to recover, effectively eliminating an entire option for Roethlisberger in key passing situations.
Additionally, while there were times where Hamilton ran solid routes, his consistency waned in different situations and he was not as sharp as Rogers and he did have a few drops that came at the most inopportune moments for the season.
Value: Like Rogers, Hamilton has the benefit of having a very low cap number just over half a million dollars. He’s also signed up until the end of the 2017 season, giving him another year to show off his abilities to the team or prove he should be picked up in free agency.
He gets high marks for making the best of a tough situation and finding his way into the depth chart of one of the more highly touted wide receiver groups in the NFL when injuries and suspensions could’ve forced them into a crisis. But he also has a lot to work on before he can keep that spot, considering the return of Bryant and the other young talent around him.
DEMARCUS AYERS
The rookie from Houston got his shot very late in the season and looked like he was not taking it for granted. When I saw Ayers’ college tape, I saw a shifty route runner with decent hands, resembling the college tape on Brown at times. While Brown put up good numbers for three straight years at Central Michigan, Ayers had a boom of a season in his junior year for 1222 yards, six receiving touchdowns and a punt returned for a touchdown.
That’s why the Steelers gave him a shot in the seventh round, as many teams overlooked him for a disappointing combine performance with his ankle injury.
But what I want to highlight about what Ayers showed was his effort on each play, as he seems like the fighter that is out to prove himself every time he’s on the field.
Strengths: Ayers knows that to make the team he’s going to have a lot of young competition to work through. So that means he has to bring his A-game on each snap to earn his keep, as he’s often the last to be called on and knows he has a very small window.
But when he had that opportunity, each time I saw a guy running his route sharp, even when it was the wrong one. He looked like he was there to win whatever his assignment was, regardless of whether or not he was a target on the play.
I thought about highlighting a catch or a route, but I saw this play when I was combing over film and thought it illustrated that point better than any other. Ayers is lined up as the split-end to the top of your screen, blocking a cornerback for the better part of a full six seconds:
Notice how Ayers is running with this play, even while it’s a designed run to complete other side of the field. His block ends up becoming the final piece to the puzzle of Bell scoring this touchdown.
Watch how he starts with getting his hands to the chest of the cornerback, trying to seal him off to the inside. When the cornerback turns, he releases his grip to avoid the holding call and then re-engages to finish the block, sealing him to the outside and allowing Bell to skip into the end zone.
Efforts like that get you noticed in the film room, not just by me, but by his coaches. And it’s that effort that gives the Steelers a good inclination to keep giving Ayers opportunities in the future.
Weaknesses: What you also saw from Ayers were a lot of rookie mistakes with his chip-on-his-shoulder style of play. While he ran his routes hard and looked to compete with each assignment, sometimes they weren’t his assignment or not a very polished route which was his assignment.
Now you may be wondering: what’s the difference between a polished well run route and a hard run route that I praised Ayers for earlier?
It’s really the difference of what Brown did to Davis in the very first play we showed in this article. Brown executed his route without running at his fastest speed or using any real heavy steps to sell his move. He instead used his large repertoire of moves to set up the route with precise movements that got him open.
Ayers in his routes still has to develop a lot of the moves and techniques that Brown has established in his career. So without that, he runs everything at full speed without holding back in any instance. If Ayers can last in the NFL, it will be interesting to see whether he develops into an elite route runner.
When I’ve been to Latrobe for Steelers’ camp, I’ve seen Brown take the time to work with receivers after practice on specific things. If Ayers can learn under Brown and develop just some of the many little things that Brown does in his footwork, there could be something there.
Value: All things considered, Ayers had a good year for a seventh round pick and the Steelers saw another young player that has potential at a position in which they have to make decisions on soon. He has a lot of polishing to do, but there’s plenty of time for that.
OVERVIEW
I didn’t bother to go over Wheaton’s limited tape because of his injury and not being able to play for most of the season. It seemed like it would be unnecessary and that the better portion of the article should focus on everyone else that had more to look at.
The Steelers are at a crossroads with Wheaton that I think forces their hand to let him go, unless he agrees to a cheap short term contract. The team has several players they have to sign to keep this nucleus together. Beyond Bell and Brown, the Steelers have to consider the future of Ross Cockrell, who’s made a good spot for himself as a starting cornerback for the defense.
They will also have to ink Ryan Shazier and Stephon Tuitt after next season, and consider Bud Dupree, Senquez Golson (if he ever plays), Jesse James, Coates and Bryant the year after that.
Wheaton has made enough big plays to be recognized by other teams and will surely be given a decent contract by a team desperate for playmakers at the position. So he and his agent might think it wise to play the free agency game for now. The only thing that might keep him around is the fear that his injury diminished his value to the point that he still wants to put on a full season with Roethlisberger to increase his value.
That could lead to a deal like the one Emmanuel Sanders got before he left the Steelers to be with Peyton Manning. Which would give the Steelers one more year with Wheaton and keep their depth at the position solid.
However re-signing Brown and Bryant are two priorities I think the team will put at the top of their list, and the development of Coates, Rogers, Hamilton and Ayers could be enough to make the front office think they’ve got their unit ready to go behind Brown.
Overall, the group grades out very favorably considering the depth which they had to reach in order to keep the offense going in the middle of injuries and suspensions. They still have one of the NFL’s best playmakers, and could be adding to that list if Bryant plays next season.
Monday: we will be back in the film room to talk about the defensive line.
MORE STEELERS
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Kaboly: Surgery option for Bell
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