For the entire offseason, I have been operating under the assumption that James Washington will be the 2nd-best receiver in Pittsburgh. With Antonio Brown, Washington looks like a possible breakout receiver. But that’s not necessarily the case.
Mark Kaboly of TheAthletic.com watched the team’s recent practices, and it’s his impression that Moncrief looks like the team’s No. 2 (opposite JuJu Smith-Schuster). Moncrief has been getting more work with the first-unit offense and seems to be building a rapport with Ben Roethlisberger, according to Kaboly.
“I wasn’t really sure what to expect when he came in,” Roethlisberger says in Kaboly’s article. “I didn’t know him and now just getting to see his work ethic, the type of person he is, his desire to be great, his knowledge of the offense already. We’ll do no-huddle stuff and I’ll give him a signal and I’ll be like, ‘You good?’ and he’ll be like, ‘Yeah.’ He is in with coach [Darryl] Drake every single morning, pretty much all day.”
I’m not saying we should pull the plug on Washington. He made a handful of nice catches in his first year. There’s still some chance he’ll come on. They also drafted Diontae Johnson in the third round. I expect Eli Rogers will be their slot receiver.
But Moncrief looks like their No. 2, and with the way they chuck it around in that offense, some chance he finishes the year with top-35 receiving numbers. That would make for a nice payoff, with Moncrief probably available 80-90 receivers into drafts right now.
Moncrief looked like an up-and-coming receiver early in his career, with 13 TDs in his second and third seasons. But he’s been underwhelming the last three years, averaging only 37 yards with game, with 12 TDs in the 37 games he’s started.
Over the last three years, 65 wide receivers have started at least 30 games. Only seven of those receivers have averaged worse PPR numbers (per game) than Moncrief.
| RECEIVERS PER GAME (2016-2018) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yards | Run | TD | PPR |
| Antonio Brown | 44 | 7.1 | 93.5 | .2 | .83 | 21.4 |
| Odell Beckham | 32 | 6.3 | 85.0 | 2.8 | .61 | 18.8 |
| Tyreek Hill | 40 | 5.1 | 75.8 | 11.3 | .75 | 18.3 |
| Julio Jones | 46 | 6.2 | 98.5 | .6 | .37 | 18.3 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 47 | 6.1 | 83.1 | -.1 | .60 | 18.0 |
| Michael Thomas | 47 | 6.8 | 80.6 | .0 | .49 | 17.8 |
| Davante Adams | 45 | 5.8 | 72.6 | .0 | .79 | 17.8 |
| Mike Evans | 47 | 5.4 | 81.8 | .0 | .57 | 17.0 |
| Keenan Allen | 33 | 6.2 | 80.4 | 2.5 | .40 | 16.9 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | 30 | 5.6 | 78.1 | .4 | .51 | 16.6 |
| A.J. Green | 35 | 5.3 | 78.2 | .0 | .51 | 16.2 |
| Stefon Diggs | 42 | 6.0 | 66.0 | 2.0 | .48 | 15.7 |
| Adam Thielen | 48 | 5.7 | 75.3 | 1.2 | .38 | 15.6 |
| T.Y. Hilton | 46 | 4.9 | 80.1 | .0 | .36 | 15.0 |
| Jarvis Landry | 48 | 6.0 | 64.6 | 2.1 | .39 | 15.0 |
| Brandin Cooks | 48 | 4.6 | 72.1 | 2.9 | .44 | 14.8 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | 48 | 5.9 | 60.7 | .4 | .40 | 14.4 |
| Robert Woods | 39 | 4.9 | 66.1 | 4.5 | .33 | 14.0 |
| Doug Baldwin | 45 | 4.9 | 60.8 | -.1 | .47 | 13.7 |
| Amari Cooper | 45 | 4.6 | 63.1 | .5 | .44 | 13.6 |
| Golden Tate | 47 | 5.5 | 61.2 | 1.3 | .30 | 13.5 |
| Alshon Jeffery | 40 | 4.3 | 61.1 | .0 | .45 | 13.1 |
| Emmanuel Sanders | 40 | 4.9 | 61.4 | 1.8 | .31 | 13.1 |
| Jordy Nelson | 46 | 4.6 | 53.9 | .0 | .51 | 13.1 |
| Marvin Jones | 40 | 3.8 | 63.5 | .1 | .45 | 12.8 |
| Demaryius Thomas | 47 | 4.9 | 57.6 | .0 | .33 | 12.7 |
| Rishard Matthews | 30 | 3.9 | 58.0 | -.1 | .43 | 12.3 |
| Allen Robinson | 30 | 4.3 | 55.1 | .3 | .34 | 11.9 |
| Sterling Shepard | 43 | 4.4 | 53.2 | 1.6 | .33 | 11.9 |
| Michael Crabtree | 46 | 4.4 | 48.4 | .0 | .43 | 11.8 |
| Will Fuller | 30 | 3.5 | 51.5 | .2 | .47 | 11.5 |
| DeSean Jackson | 41 | 3.6 | 59.7 | 1.6 | .29 | 11.5 |
| Jamison Crowder | 40 | 4.1 | 50.6 | 1.6 | .33 | 11.2 |
| Mike Wallace | 32 | 3.9 | 55.2 | 1.1 | .26 | 11.1 |
| Mohamed Sanu | 46 | 4.2 | 47.7 | 1.3 | .33 | 11.0 |
| Robby Anderson | 43 | 3.6 | 52.2 | 1.0 | .35 | 11.0 |
| Pierre Garcon | 32 | 4.5 | 57.1 | .0 | .13 | 10.9 |
| Marqise Lee | 30 | 4.0 | 51.8 | 1.7 | .27 | 10.9 |
| Randall Cobb | 37 | 4.4 | 44.5 | 1.4 | .28 | 10.7 |
| Ted Ginn | 36 | 3.4 | 48.6 | 4.5 | .29 | 10.5 |
| Sammy Watkins | 33 | 3.2 | 46.7 | 1.6 | .39 | 10.4 |
| Tyrell Williams | 48 | 3.2 | 50.8 | .3 | .33 | 10.3 |
| Kenny Stills | 47 | 2.9 | 45.2 | .0 | .47 | 10.3 |
| Tyler Lockett | 47 | 3.0 | 45.0 | 5.1 | .33 | 10.0 |
| Brandon LaFell | 36 | 3.6 | 42.9 | -.1 | .31 | 9.7 |
| Adam Humphries | 47 | 4.1 | 44.0 | .7 | .18 | 9.6 |
| Devin Funchess | 41 | 3.1 | 42.1 | .0 | .37 | 9.6 |
| Nelson Agholor | 47 | 3.4 | 39.8 | 1.3 | .33 | 9.5 |
| Kelvin Benjamin | 42 | 3.2 | 47.3 | .0 | .26 | 9.5 |
| Cole Beasley | 47 | 3.7 | 38.7 | .1 | .26 | 9.2 |
| Taylor Gabriel | 39 | 3.3 | 39.4 | 4.1 | .26 | 9.2 |
| Dontrelle Inman | 33 | 3.3 | 43.9 | .0 | .24 | 9.1 |
| DeVante Parker | 38 | 3.6 | 45.3 | .0 | .16 | 9.1 |
| Travis Benjamin | 30 | 2.7 | 41.5 | 3.1 | .31 | 9.0 |
| Marquise Goodwin | 39 | 2.8 | 45.8 | 1.4 | .23 | 8.9 |
| Danny Amendola | 30 | 4.0 | 41.1 | .4 | .11 | 8.8 |
| Chris Hogan | 40 | 2.7 | 41.3 | .7 | .30 | 8.7 |
| Donte Moncrief | 37 | 2.8 | 36.9 | .0 | .32 | 8.4 |
| Willie Snead | 42 | 3.4 | 39.0 | .3 | .13 | 8.1 |
| Jermaine Kearse | 45 | 3.2 | 37.6 | .0 | .16 | 7.8 |
| John Brown | 41 | 2.5 | 37.3 | .6 | .24 | 7.7 |
| Terrance Williams | 32 | 3.0 | 36.3 | .5 | .13 | 7.5 |
| Seth Roberts | 46 | 2.7 | 29.3 | .1 | .19 | 6.8 |
| Torrey Smith | 33 | 2.2 | 26.3 | -.1 | .22 | 6.1 |
| Chris Conley | 37 | 2.4 | 28.1 | .0 | .14 | 6.0 |
—Ian Allan