Pittsburgh Steelers: Position Breakdown, Depth-Chart Analysis at Wide Receiver

It's no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the NFL's top offenses last year, and much of that was down to the passing game. It wasn't just the accuracy and overall prowess of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, though—the receivers he was throwing to had a lot to do with it.

The receiving corps last year was led by Antonio Brown, the league's best receiver for the season. He had 129 catches on 182 targets for 1,698 yards and 13 touchdowns while also totaling 568 yards after the catch. Brown's quickness and his ankle-breaking double moves are unrivaled in the NFL at present, and he's not showing any signs that he's about to slow down in 2015. He will once again be Roethlisberger's most valuable target.

In the past two seasons, no receiver has caught more passes than Brown. He also has a record-setting 32-game stretch with at least five catches for 50 yards in each game. Perhaps even more impressive is that Brown has caught 68.70 percent of all third-down passes thrown to him in the past two years, and 76.47 percent of those have resulted in a first down or a touchdown, reported by Steelers Depot's Dave Bryan.

No one can create after the catch like Brown. It's why offensive coordinator Todd Haley's yards-after-catch-focused offense has found such success in the past two years. There's no reason why Brown could not repeat as the league's leading receiver this year. He could be even better, having added five pounds of "good muscle," as he said to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler earlier in June. "Nutrition paid dividends for me last year, and just understanding even more now with the time last year is accommodating way better," he added

Meanwhile, second-year player Martavis Bryant looks poised to be the Steelers' No. 2 wideout alongside Brown this season. Bryant, drafted in Round 4 in 2014, took seven weeks of the regular season to make the team's game-day roster. When he did, he made an instant impact. Though he caught just 26 of the 49 passes thrown his way, he totaled 549 yards and had eight scores.

A traditional deep threat at 6'4", Bryant averaged 21.1 yards per reception as a rookie. He had scoring receptions of 80 and 94 yards last year. This year, 10 pounds heavier than he was in 2014 and having "[become] a professional at [his] craft" in the offseason, as he told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo, he could have an even better year.

Player	Tgts.	Rec.	Rec.%	Yds.	YPR	TD	YAC
Brown	182	129	70.9%	1,698	13.2	13	568
Wheaton	87	53	60.9%	644	12.2	2	161
Bryant	49	26	53.1%	549	21.1	8	164
Heyward-Bey	5	3	60.0%	33	11.0	0	0
Coates*	n/a	34	n/a	741	21.8	4	n/a

Bryant's former Clemson quarterback and current Steeler Tajh Boyd told Fittipaldo that he believes Bryant could break 1,000 receiving yards and "be a Pro Bowler in the next two years." Given how Bryant handled his rookie season, it's not hard to believe Boyd's prediction.

Last year, Markus Wheaton served as the Steelers' No. 2 wideout, totaling 644 yards on his 53 catches and scoring two touchdowns. But with the emergence of Bryant, Wheaton looks destined to serve as Pittsburgh's slot receiver in 2015, something he is embracing, saying to Fowler that the one-two punch of Brown and Bryant means, "The middle will be wide open. That will be a benefit for me."

Wheaton says that he played about half of his snaps on the outside and half in the slot last year. That means of the 760 snaps he played, according to Pro Football Focus, 380 were as a slot receiver. Given that Lance Moore played 264 snaps, almost all of which were in the slot, while Brown, tight end Heath Miller and running back Le'Veon Bell also joined in as occasional slot receivers, it's possible that even if Wheaton's slot duties increase, his actual snaps and targets could drop.

Still, that doesn't mean his role won't matter. And it doesn't mean that Wheaton won't see time on the outside on a situational basis as well. What Bryant's emergence does mean, though, is that the Steelers have even more options in the passing game to create mismatches for opposing defenses.

Rookie Sammie Coates, though, could serve to take some of those outside targets away from Wheaton. Coates, whom the Steelers selected in Round 3 of the 2015 draft, averaged 21.4 yards per catch at Auburn. At 6'1", he gives the Steelers another tall, deep threat in the mold of Bryant.

However, Coates had issues with drops in college. He needs to fix those problems before he can get significant on-field playing time in the regular season. ESPN's Matt Williamson, though, thinks Coates can make a major impact in his rookie season, calling him "a big, powerful mover in a mold similar to Terrell Owens. When he opens it up, he can really burn as well."

Williams added: "Talking to people close to the situation, many brought up that they were very impressed with Coates' already strong knowledge of Pittsburgh's playbook." He also said that though Coates has the reputation of dropping passes, "the word is his large, strong hands catch the ball surprisingly softly."

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press/Associated Press

Further, Steelers tackle Marcus Gilbert came away impressed with Coates last month, saying to Fowler: "He looks like he knows how to finish a play with strength, especially in the middle of the field. That's something I noticed."

Coates is also getting valuable tutelage from veterans such as Roethlisberger and Brown in an effort to "get better every day," as he said to the Steelers' official website.

It's all about how quick a study Coates proves to be. He could be on the field in Week 1 or could, like Bryant a year ago, take a few weeks before being promoted to the game-day roster and playing his first regular-season snaps.

Rounding out the Steelers' receiving corps are Darrius Heyward-Bey, quarterback-receiver hybrids Devin Gardner and Tyler Murphy, second-year player C.J. Goodwin and undrafted rookies Shakim Phillips and Eli Rogers.

Heyward-Bey came to the Steelers last year after one season with the Indianapolis Colts and four with the Oakland Raiders. He provides valuable veteran depth but was a marginal player on Pittsburgh's offense with just three catches on five targets for 33 yards and no scores. However, he proved valuable on special teams, totaling seven tackles as part of the coverage unit. Though he's not expected to be a factor in the passing game again this year, his roster spot could be safe because of his special teams value.

Gardner and Murphy may be two of the most intriguing new faces on Pittsburgh's roster, but both men are long shots to make the 53-man roster, given the players currently on the depth chart ahead of them. Gardner came to the team after playing quarterback for the University of Michigan, while Murphy served as Boston College's quarterback.

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

The two undrafted rookies are working at both receiver and quarterback during OTAs and minicamps, with Murphy also getting some work on special teams. They are trading back and forth between positions, with Gardner sometimes throwing to Murphy and vice versa, something that Haley expects to continue through the summer, reports PennLive's Jacob Klinger.

Goodwin, an undrafted player from 2014 who was unlikely to even reach the NFL, spent last year on Pittsburgh's practice squad. Back in May, Steelers Depot's Alex Kozora said Goodwin was potentially the Steelers' "biggest sleeper." Kozora noted both Goodwin's athleticism and the fact that "if he wasn't really cut out for the NFL, chances are strong that he would have been exposed right now."

Still, Goodwin's battle is an uphill one. The same can be said for Phillips and Rogers, who was an OTAs and minicamp standout in the eyes of linebacker Terence Garvin, who said to Klinger on Thursday that, "Eli caught a lot of eyes, he did a lot of good things. I definitely see him a lot."

That's good momentum for Rogers in particular, as minicamp gives way to next month's training camp. Otherwise, he could be destined for the practice squad.

Pittsburgh's group of receivers is multifaceted and talented. With Brown leading the way, Bryant and Coates able to make big scoring plays and Wheaton moving the chains in the slot, the Steelers' potential starters could combine to build the NFL's best receiving corps this season. There is also promising depth behind them. The Steelers appear to be not only in good shape at the receiver position in 2015 but for years to come.