The firecracker that is Pittsburgh Steelers Jaylen Warren has done more than just run the ball. In fact, he’s spent nearly as much catching footballs as he has carrying them. The team’s clear and consistent third down back, a role that began in Week Five last season, Warren has a chance to be a quirky stat leader for the team.
Through five games, Warren has 21 receptions. That’s second on the team behind George Pickens’ 22. Meaning, there’s a chance Warren could end the season leading the Steelers in receptions. If he does, he’ll become the first Steelers’ RB to do so since John L. Williams in 1994, nearly 30 years ago.
In that 1994 season, Williams paced Pittsburgh’s receivers with 51 catches. A low number for a run-first team, one that gave Barry Foster (216) and Bam Morris (198) as many carries as they could handle. Williams himself finished the year with 68. He was a hybrid player, an athletic “fullback” in an era when those guys were central to the short passing game. Roger Craig, Larry Centers, the type of player who doesn’t really exist anymore. Williams spent eight years in Seattle, once catching 76 passes in 1989 for the Seahawks, before spending his 30s in Pittsburgh, playing for the Steelers in 1994 and 1995.
Pittsburgh didn’t exactly have established names at wide receiver that year. Rookie Charles Johnson would go on to “lead” all wideouts in receptions with 38. He’d go on to be a talented receiver and good player but wasn’t counted on as a first-year player. Tight end Eric Green was the passing game’s biggest playmakers. A top-shelf athlete, he led the team with 618 yards and tied Yancy Thigpen with four touchdowns. Thigpen, like Johnson, would go on to be a household name but it wasn’t until 1995 that Thigpen would break out and make the Pro Bowl. Until that point, he would be an offensive role player.
After a quiet opener to the season, Williams caught three passes in a Week Two win over the Cleveland Browns. He followed that up with a six-reception performance to beat the Indianapolis Colts, highlighted by this third down, eight yard touchdown catch to give the Steelers a fourth-quarter lead. And check out those 1933 throwbacks – nice!
Williams would catch six more the following week in a loss to his former team the Seahawks. He would spent the rest of the year consistently getting involved in the passing game, having at least two receptions in all but the regular season finale he was inactive for. The yards weren’t much, only twice did he top 50 yards all season, but there was volume, including a seven-catch day in a 16-13 win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 12.
Williams played a role in the team’s playoff push. Four receptions and a rushing touchdown in the Divisional Round win over the Bill Belichick coached Cleveland Browns before the Steelers lost in heartbreaking upset fashion to the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Title Game. That day, Williams caught seven balls with one touchdown, Pittsburgh’s only end zone trip that day.
Let’s bring it back to Warren. Could he lead the team in receptions? Clearly, he’s going to need more than the 51 Williams finished with. The odds are probably below 50 percent but they’re far from zero. As the team’s pass down back, he’s consistently involved in the checkdown game with the occasional designed pass for him either with a traditional middle screen or quad/swing screens that have become popular in today’s game. Pittsburgh’s offenses haven’t been shy about getting their running backs the ball. In the Mike Tomlin era, Le’Veon Bell had at least 80 receptions twice. Najee Harris caught 74 passes his rookie year. Granted, they were true workhorse backs in everydown roles and Warren won’t hit that number.
But with Diontae Johnson missing a month, Warren has a heck of a head start on his biggest “threat.” With Johnson back, Pickens will lose some of the volume he has, meaning there’s a chance Warren surpasses him for good. If so, then it’ll mean just staying ahead of Johnson.
Let’s run the math. Assume Johnson averages the same number of receptions per game he did in 2022 for the next 12 games. Including what he caught in Week One, that gives him 63. If Warren keeps up his seasonal average of 4.2 receptions per game, he ends with 71. That’s probably a stretch, Johnson will also eat into that number a bit, but it could be a photo finish for the team lead.
Which, I know, doesn’t really matter. Winning is what matters. But it’s the bye week and we like funky stats and crazy streaks. Pittsburgh could have Pickens, Johnson, and Warren all finish with 60-something catches. And if Warren comes out on top count on it appearing in our Week 18 version of Stats of the Weird.
