On Monday, The Ringer released their initial top 150 fantasy football rankings for the 2021 season. That list includes four members of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The four Steelers that made the top 150 are running back Najee Harris, wide receiver Diontae Johnson, wide receiver Chase Claypool and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The initial rankings released on Monday were reportedly determined by the hosts of The Ringer Fantasy Football Show: Danny Kelly, Danny Heifetz, and Craig Horlbeck. The rankings were also created with half-PPR scoring formats in mind.
Harris, the Steelers first round selection this year out of Alabama, is the team’s highest-ranked player on Ringer’s list of 150 players. Even so, Harris, who is ranked 20th overall on the list, is the 13th overall running back.
Johnson is the next Steelers player ranked in the 150 at 52nd overall. Johnson, who caught 88 passes for 923 yards and seven touchdowns last season, is the 24th overall on the list as far as wide receivers go.
Ranked behind Johnson are Claypool and Smith-Schuster at 60th and 67th, respectively. Claypool is the 30th ranked wide receiver on the list while Smith-Schuster is ranked 33rd overall positionally.
Several weeks ago, Mike Clay of ESPN released his initial stat projections for key Steelers players. He had Harris projected to have 223 rushes for 961 yards and seven touchdowns to go along with 51 receptions for 385 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a total of 274 touches for Harris as a rookie for a total of 1,346 yards from scrimmage and a whopping nine touchdowns.
As for the Steelers’ top three wide receivers, Johnson, Smith-Schuster and Claypool, Clay has all three with more than 900 yards receiving in 2021 and at least six receiving touchdowns for each. Clay projected Johnson to lead the Steelers in both receptions (95) and receiving yardage (1,017) in 2021.
