There may be no more banged up receiving corps in the NFL than the Pittsburgh Steelers. On Thursday we received both positive and negative updates about their injury statuses.
The positive was that Diontae Johnson got a full practice in, which means we're ranking him as if he'll play at full strength in Week 4. That makes him a must-start receiver in full PPR and a low-end No. 2 receiver in non-PPR.
More positive news came with JuJu Smith-Schuster getting in a limited practice. We still aren't ranking him yet, but he's definitely trending in the right direction. Which is more than you can say for Chase Claypool.
Claypool popped up on the injury report with a new hamstring injury. That, combined with the potential return of the Steelers' top-two receivers, has dropped Claypool outside of my top-36 receivers.
In relation to the Thursday night guys, I would start the top five receivers in that game over Smith-Schuster. Ja'Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, and Marvin Jones are the only three I'd start over Claypool as long as I have a replacement available for Sunday. If not, I'd start Laviska Shenault and D.J. Chark over him as well.
Here is the rest of the Week 4 WR Preview:
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If Kenny Golladay can get healthy he could be in line for a lot of targets in Week 4.
WR Preview
Numbers to Know
37.6% -- Brandin Cooks leads all receivers with a 37.6% target share.
3.56 -- Ja"Marr Chase has scored 3.56 Fantasy points per target through his first three games. There's major regression coming, but hopefully a lot more targets as well.
151 -- Jakobi Meyers has now seen 151 career targets without a receiving touchdown.
91.2 -- Cooper Kupp leads all non-quarterbacks with 91.2 PPR Fantasy points.
31 -- Mike Williams has 31 targets through three games. It looks like he's going to smash his career high of 90.
6.2 -- Stefon Diggs' 6.2 yards per target is the lowest of his career. It's such a small sample size that I'd bet on regression in the coming weeks. Buy low.
8.8 -- Calvin Ridley's aDOT in 2021. The past two years it has been above 13.
Meyers should be universally started as a No. 3 receiver in full PPR, but there's some hope for his non-PPR value as well. Eventually, he's going to get into the end zone and the loss of James White could mean even more targets for Meyers. So could Jonnu Smith's struggles.
Renfrow should be in a shootout with the Chargers on Monday Night Football. He's still Derek Carr's favorite wide receiver to target and he's getting a few more downfield targets than he has in past years. He's a solid No. 3 in full PPR.
Edwards' target share is way too low to consider starting, but he's been awesome and he looks like a future star. If Carr starts targeting him more, Edwards could take off. That's exactly the type of guy you should be stashing.
Pittman has 24 targets over his past two games and looks to be emerging as a true No. 1 receiver for the Colts. But he's priced more like a low-end No. 3 .
I think the matchup with Trevon Diggs will keep Moore's roster rate low, I'm just not sure matchup matters all that much to Moore. That's partially because of his skillset and partially because of the Panthers' creativity.
