After a strong start to the season, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool has been on a downward trend of late. This is thanks in large part to the fact that the Steelers haven't been drawing up plays for him as much — something that Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin attempted to shed some light on.

According to Tomlin, he has decided to decrease Claypool's snaps in anticipation of the 22-year-old possibly falling out of form:

“I’m not acknowledging that he has [hit the rookie wall] but I’m acknowledging that there’s a potential for that,” Tomlin said, via Alex Koroza of Steelers Depot. “One of the ways you help a young man through that is you reduce his number of snaps. Which is what you see us doing.”

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We honestly can't quite comprehend Tomlin's logic here, but given his track record, we're more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then again, Pittsburgh has now lost two straight games, and one of the reasons could be Claypool's reduced usage rate.

This is certainly one way of approaching it. Claypool certainly won't hit the rookie wall if he isn't given the opportunity to do so.

On Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, Claypool caught just 3-of-6 targets for 15 yards. He did miss Thursday's practice due to illness, so perhaps that was one of the main reasons why he didn't look like his usual self against the Bills.