NFL Draft daily: Variety the spice at receiver

Ninth in a daily series leading into the 2020 NFL Draft, April 23-25:

When the Steelers made the -- correct -- decision to trade Antonio Brown to the Raiders last offseason, it left a void at wide receiver.

They filled part of that void with the addition of Diontae Johnson at the top of the third round. A shifty, jitterbug of a receiver, Johnson wound up leading the Steelers -- and all NFL rookies -- with 59 catches and earning All-Pro status as a punt returner.

And second-year receiver James Washington blossomed, catching 44 passes for 735 yards and three touchdowns, with the majority of that -- 34 catches, 574 yards and all three scores -- coming in the team's final nine games.

What didn't happen, however, was a big season out of third-year pro JuJu Smith-Schuster. Coming off a season in which he caught 111 passes for over 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns, Smith-Schuster's production fell off to less than half of what he had provided in 2018, as he finished with 42 catches for 552 yards and three touchdowns.

Injuries were a partial reason for that, as Smith-Schuster was limited to 12 games. So was the fact Ben Roethlisberger played just six quarters in 2019. But the additional attention Smith-Schuster received without Brown drawing consistent double teams had an impact, as well.

Donte Moncrief was signed in the offseason to help ease that burden, but he suffered a broken finger in training camp that affected his ability -- and confidence -- catching the ball. Moncrief was released midway through the season.

The fourth receiver spot remained something of a revolving door. Ryan Switzer began the season in that role but suffered a back injury that landed him on injured reserve. Johnny Holton also got a shot at the role but caught just three of his 15 targets.

Deon Cain was signed off the Colts' practice squad in mid-November to replace Moncrief and showed some promise. He'll get a shot to earn a roster spot once again this season, with Switzer back, as well.

Holton was released after the season, leaving the team with five receivers on the roster with NFL experience.

The Steelers typically keep six receivers on their roster, so adding another quality player to the position would be helpful as they continue to recover from the departure of one of the league's best players at the position.

And in this year's NFL Draft, which will be held Thursday through Saturday, it won't be that hard to make a quality addition. The Steelers don't have a first-round draft pick, having traded that to the Dolphins as part of the deal to acquire All-Pro safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. But in this draft, that won't matter -- at least not at the wide receiver position.

Wide receiver is the deepest position in this draft. There could be as many as six taken in the first round and figure to be as many as 10 who have first-round grades on them.

The Alabama duo of Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs and Oklahoma's CeeDee Lamb are all expected to be selected in the top 15 picks, while LSU's Justin Jefferson also is a sure first-round pick.

Any of the next six receivers -- Baylor's Denzel Mims, Arizona State's Brandon Aiyuk, TCU's Jalen Reagor, USC's Michael Pittman, Clemson's Tee Higgins and Lavishka Shenault of Colorado -- could be selected in the next 25 or so picks, but if one slid to the Steelers, whose first pick is at No. 49, they could be tempting.

Mims, Aiyuk and Reagor all offer deep speed the Steelers are missing, while Pittman, Higgins and Shenault are big, physical receivers who could offer the team a bigger body type to use as a red-zone target.

"The challenge in scouting the position is it's almost like two different games for college and the NFL in terms of what routes you're asked to run, which are very limited at the college level," said NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. "You watch a college game on a Saturday, you're going to see a bunch of slants, hitches and goes. It's very limited in terms of what they ask them to do, very limited in terms of them having to read coverage and sight adjust their routes. They don't see very much press coverage so they don't have to get off press. Now you're bringing them to the NFL, you're asking them to get off press coverage, you're asking them to think on the move and you're asking them to run a lot of routes they've never run before.

"There's a lot of adjustment there, but I think -- I give the NFL credit. I think the last couple years we're seeing the NFL be a little smarter with the transition period for these guys and figuring out ways they can get them on fly sweeps or bubble screens and just get the ball in their hands and let them make plays, simplifying it a little bit while they're young before they can grow and evolve into everything you want them to do."

The receiver talent doesn't end with those 10, either. Penn State's speedy K.J. Hamler, South Carolina's Bryan Edwards and Notre Dame's Chase Claypool all could be selected by the end of the second round and aren't likely to be around long into the third.

Florida's Van Jefferson, Antonio Gandy-Golden of Liberty, Devin Duvernay of Texas and Kentucky's Lynn Bowden could be interesting picks for the Steelers at the end of the third round or with one of their two fourth-round picks.

Jefferson, the son of former NFL player and current assistant coach Shawn Jefferson, might be the best pure route runner in the draft. Gandy Golden (6-foot-4, 223 pounds) is another big-bodied receiver who uses it well inside the red zone, as evidenced by his 33 touchdowns in 45 career games.

Duvernay is a speedster -- he ran a 4.39 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine -- but caught 106 passes for 1,386 yards and nine touchdowns last season at Texas, while Bowden is one of the wildcards at the position this year.

The Youngstown native began his career as a receiver but finished the last eight games of 2019 as Kentucky's quarterback because of injuries. He's elusive with the ball in his hands and has some Antwaan Randle El-type ability.

"I just wanted to win," Bowden said. "We had the better chance at us winning with me at quarterback, so that’s what I wanted to do."

It hurt Bowden in that he missed spending his final year in college at receiver, but it might have helped him in the eyes of some teams.

"They like it," Bowden said. "They appreciate that I did that. That I was a team player first. That I didn’t think about myself.”

In later rounds, Virginia's Joe Reed, Southern Mississippi's Quez Watkins or Dezmon Patmon of Washington State could interest the Steelers in a draft that offers talent at the position from the first round through the seventh.