The air around Chase Claypool keeps getting rarer.
With a 31-yard touchdown reception from Ben Roethlisberger against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, the rookie has scored 10 touchdowns, joining Green Bay’s Bill Howton (1952), Houston Oilers’ Bill Groman (1960) and Chicago’s Harlon Hill (1954) as wide receivers with the most touchdowns in their first 10 career games in league history. Howton leads the pack with 11, while both Groman and Hill scored 10.
Claypool also now only trails Franco Harris (1972) and Louis Lipps (1984) for the most touchdowns in a season by a Steelers rookie. Harris and Lipps each had 11.
Claypool’s score came on a deep ball from Roethlisberger with just more than seven minutes to go until halftime, giving the Steelers a 10-3 lead against the 1-8 Jaguars.
.@ChaseClaypool is always open
📺 CBS 📱https://t.co/tI5aUTu7te pic.twitter.com/lW22Y7zAAD
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 22, 2020
To celebrate, Claypool presented the football as a cake to JuJu Smith-Schuster, who turned 24 on Sunday, while the rest of the receivers sang “Happy Birthday” and he blew out the “candle.”
Blow out the candles, @TeamJuJu 🎂@ChaseClaypool | @budlight | #BudLightCelly pic.twitter.com/RXYCGMGTQ9
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 22, 2020
Claypool, the Steelers’ second-round pick, has been all over the record books in his first 10 games of his NFL career. Earlier this season, his six touchdowns tied the NFL record for most touchdowns by a rookie wide receiver through his first 5 career games since 1970. He also scored four touchdowns against the Philadelphia Eagles, setting a Steelers’ rookie record. And he became the first rookie in NFL history with three receiving touchdowns and a rushing score in one game.
And he’s not showing signs of slowing down anytime soon.
