Year number three for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver, Chase Claypool, is underway. Monday, he took to the I Am Athlete podcast hosted by former NFL players Brandon Marshall, Adam "Pacman" Jones, and LeSean "Shady" McCoy to talk about his first two years in the league, Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, Ben Roethlisberger, and of course, his TikTok videos.
Claypool is coming off a season where had 59 receptions for 860 receiving yards, and two touchdown receptions. A slight regression from his nine touchdown reception season from his rookie year in 2020, but nothing he thinks he can't bounce back from to have a "top three" wide receiver caliber 2022 season.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool (11) scores his fourth touchdown of an NFL football game on a 35-yard pass play from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during the second half in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020. (Don Wright/AP)
When asked about all of the TikTok videos he's posted over the course of his young career and if they were a distraction to the team, Claypool had some interesting insight:
"Going into the league, just like you said, it's a different era, right? And social media is a big part of our era. So I've got to build a platform for myself that helps me off the field," Claypool said. "No doubt about it that on the field, s**t will always override the off the field, in terms of marketing. All that -- I was playing my best football when I was making TikToks [group laughs].""People want to get on me and talk about my TikToks, but as soon as I stopped, we started losing [group laughs]."
Claypool was asked about his social media videos right out the gate, and he was quick to dismiss the rumors that they may have been doing more harm than good.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver, Chase Claypool (#11) signals for a first down at Heinz Field in 2021 during a regular season matchup against the Denver Broncos. | Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO
Claypool has all the right tools to be a great receiver for Pittsburgh. It's up for debate whether or not his off the field presence has truly translated to lesser production on the field, but one thing is for certain, Claypool is not taking 2022 lightly. He further elaborated on the criticism of his videos:
"The thing that's frustrating is, we were doing TikToks the whole season, 11-0. You ain't hear nothing about it, like 'Aw, keep 'em coming! We love these TikToks, keep 'em coming!' We lose again, now it's 'Ah. It's the TikToks.' Now it's that perception shifted," Claypool said. "It's not about what you do or what you say. It's about what you do and what you say and how that perception is perceived on you, you know what I'm saying? If I say the exact same thing as you, and I have a bad perception against me and you have a good perception against me, people are going to like what you said more than what I said. Even though we said the same thing. So it's all about the perception. Fortunately, perception over the year, last year, has changed. That's kind of why I've been off TikTok."
Watch the full interview on YouTube here.
What do yinz think of Claypool's interview? Is he poised for a big year three in the Steel City? Click to comment below!
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