Steelers rule wide receiver out Sunday vs. Packers

The Pittsburgh Steelers will be without an important playmaker on offense when they take on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on Saturday that Claypool suffered an injury in practice and will not be able to play on Sunday.

Claypool is coming off of his most productive game of the season for the Steelers. In Week 3’s 24-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Claypool caught nine passes for 96 yards. He was also targeted 15 times in the game. On the season, Claypool has 15 receptions on 29 targets for 211 yards, and two rushes for 22 yards.

The Steelers selected Claypool with the 49th overall pick in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame. As a rookie, Claypool caught 62 of his 109 targets for 873 yards and nine touchdowns.

Losing Claypool is a tough blow to an already struggling Steelers offense

The Steelers managed to come away with a 23-16 victory over the Buffalo Bills to begin their season. Since then, though, things have gone south in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have lost two consecutive games since the season opening victory. Pittsburgh lost 26-17 to the Raiders in Week 2 before falling 24-10 to the Bengals last week.

Part of the Steelers’ struggles have been an inability to move the ball on offense. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has thrown for 801 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions on the season, and he did not look good in the loss to the Bengals. After the Steelers’ Week 2 loss, Roethlisberger admitted that he is frustrated by the struggles on offense. Now, the Steelers will try to correct things without Claypool in Week 4.

“I don’t know,” said Roethlisberger. “It’s frustrating because I put a lot of stinking time in. More than I probably ever have. And I’m not really sure I gotta get it figured out though because I’m frustrated that I am not playing well enough. The good news is that it’s still early, you know, we got a long road ahead of us and we got a lot of time to get it fixed.”