Last week we ran an item on James Washington, who seems to be the favorite for the No. 2 wide receiver job in Pittsburgh following the trade of Antonio Brown. And maybe he's still the favorite, but there's another hat in the ring after Pittsburgh signed Donte Moncrief.
Moncrief is a big target (6-2, 216), and the thought is sometimes that teams will tap into that height in the red zone. But Moncrief caught only 2 TDs in 12 games his last year in Indianapolis, then followed that up by catching only 3 TDs in Jacksonville last year. Among all wideouts with at least 40 receptions, that was one of the lowest totals in the league.
| WIDE RECEIVER TOUCHDOWNS, 2018 (40-PLUS RECEPTIONS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Antonio Brown, PIT | 104 | 1297 | 12.5 | 15 |
| Davante Adams, GB | 111 | 1386 | 12.5 | 13 |
| Tyreek Hill, KC | 87 | 1479 | 17.0 | 12 |
| DeAndre Hopkins, HOU | 115 | 1572 | 13.7 | 11 |
| Tyler Lockett, SEA | 57 | 965 | 16.9 | 10 |
| Calvin Ridley, ATL | 64 | 821 | 12.8 | 10 |
| Mike Williams, LAC | 43 | 664 | 15.4 | 10 |
| Adam Thielen, MIN | 113 | 1373 | 12.2 | 9 |
| Stefon Diggs, MIN | 102 | 1021 | 10.0 | 9 |
| Michael Thomas, NO | 125 | 1405 | 11.2 | 9 |
| Mike Evans, TB | 86 | 1524 | 17.7 | 8 |
| Julio Jones, ATL | 113 | 1677 | 14.8 | 8 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster, PIT | 111 | 1426 | 12.8 | 7 |
| Zay Jones, BUF | 56 | 652 | 11.6 | 7 |
| Chris Godwin, TB | 59 | 842 | 14.3 | 7 |
| Tyler Boyd, CIN | 76 | 1028 | 13.5 | 7 |
| T.Y. Hilton, IND | 76 | 1270 | 16.7 | 6 |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 40 | 566 | 14.2 | 6 |
| Amari Cooper, DAL | 53 | 725 | 13.7 | 6 |
| Robby Anderson, NYJ | 50 | 752 | 15.0 | 6 |
| Odell Beckham, NYG | 77 | 1052 | 13.7 | 6 |
| Alshon Jeffery, PHI | 65 | 843 | 13.0 | 6 |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 97 | 1196 | 12.3 | 6 |
| A.J. Green, CIN | 46 | 694 | 15.1 | 6 |
| Robert Woods, LAR | 86 | 1219 | 14.2 | 6 |
| Julian Edelman, NE | 74 | 850 | 11.5 | 6 |
| Larry Fitzgerald, ARI | 69 | 734 | 10.6 | 6 |
| Tyrell Williams, LAC | 41 | 653 | 15.9 | 5 |
| John Brown, BAL | 42 | 715 | 17.0 | 5 |
| Antonio Callaway, CLE | 43 | 586 | 13.6 | 5 |
| Brandin Cooks, LAR | 80 | 1204 | 15.1 | 5 |
| Kenny Golladay, DET | 70 | 1063 | 15.2 | 5 |
| Doug Baldwin, SEA | 50 | 618 | 12.4 | 5 |
| Dede Westbrook, JAX | 66 | 717 | 10.9 | 5 |
| Adam Humphries, TB | 76 | 816 | 10.7 | 5 |
| DeSean Jackson, TB | 41 | 774 | 18.9 | 4 |
| Nelson Agholor, PHI | 64 | 736 | 11.5 | 4 |
| Courtland Sutton, DEN | 42 | 704 | 16.8 | 4 |
| Emmanuel Sanders, DEN | 71 | 868 | 12.2 | 4 |
| Sterling Shepard, NYG | 66 | 872 | 13.2 | 4 |
| Corey Davis, TEN | 65 | 891 | 13.7 | 4 |
| Mohamed Sanu, ATL | 66 | 838 | 12.7 | 4 |
| Jarvis Landry, CLE | 81 | 976 | 12.0 | 4 |
| Allen Robinson, CHI | 55 | 754 | 13.7 | 4 |
| Devin Funchess, CAR | 44 | 549 | 12.5 | 4 |
| Kendrick Bourne, SF | 42 | 487 | 11.6 | 4 |
| Josh Gordon, NE | 40 | 720 | 18.0 | 3 |
| Sammy Watkins, KC | 40 | 519 | 13.0 | 3 |
| Jordy Nelson, OAK | 63 | 739 | 11.7 | 3 |
| Christian Kirk, ARI | 43 | 590 | 13.7 | 3 |
| Michael Crabtree, BAL | 54 | 607 | 11.2 | 3 |
| Cole Beasley, DAL | 65 | 672 | 10.3 | 3 |
| Donte Moncrief, JAX | 48 | 668 | 13.9 | 3 |
| D.J. Moore, CAR | 55 | 788 | 14.3 | 2 |
| Taylor Gabriel, CHI | 67 | 688 | 10.3 | 2 |
| Seth Roberts, OAK | 45 | 494 | 11.0 | 2 |
| Josh Doctson, WAS | 44 | 532 | 12.1 | 2 |
| Chester Rogers, IND | 53 | 485 | 9.2 | 2 |
| Jarius Wright, CAR | 43 | 447 | 10.4 | 1 |
| Willie Snead, BAL | 62 | 651 | 10.5 | 1 |
| Danny Amendola, MIA | 59 | 575 | 9.7 | 1 |
Notice who's at the very top of the list: the guy Moncrief is vying to replace, Antonio Brown.
The last two years Moncrief has been working with Jacoby Brissett and Blake Bortles primarily, and now he'll be catching passes from Ben Roethlisberger. An increase in touchdowns, if he does hang onto a top-2 or 3 receiver role, is reasonable. But to this point, Moncrief hasn't been much of a scorer. It remains to be seen if that will change.
--Andy Richardson