Canadians in the NFL: Chase Claypool pushing for bigger role with Steelers

The NFL season has reached its quarter mark, and there’s a group of Canadians who have been making an impact for their teams through four games.

Entering the 2020 campaign, the hype surrounding emerging talent north of the border received a boost from Chase Claypool and Neville Gallimore, who were both selected in the early rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, respectively. However, with COVID-19 changing how teams approached training camp and eliminating pre-season games, a chance for rookies to earn prominent playing time over veterans right out of camp became even more challenging than normal. That hasn’t impeded Claypool’s progress, however.

But before we dive into how Canadians have fared across the NFL so far this, we want to highlight a play from this past weekend that received a lot of attention in Canada despite not being made by a Canadian.

During the Week 4 Sunday night matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, Eagles linebacker and former CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player Alex Singleton made a game-changing pick-six to help seal his team’s first win of the season. Used almost exclusively on special teams during his time in Philadelphia, Singleton played the most defensive snaps of his career in San Francisco, and took full advantage.

The former CFL All-Star Alex Singleton coming up HUGE @alexsingleton49 pic.twitter.com/DSBdVHXU6a

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) October 5, 2020

The moment didn’t go unnoticed in Canada as Singleton was trending on Twitter, and the 2018 Grey Cup champion said his phone was blowing up afterwards.

“I can only see so much on Twitter and Instagram, but it’s just great. All the replies, I didn’t even know some of the things on Instagram go the way they do,” Singleton told Daniel Austin of the Calgary Sun. “My mom, the first thing she said was, ‘Your sister says you’re trending on Canada Twitter.’

“It’s just so cool to have all that support up there. It’s my biggest fanbase, so it’s really cool still having that and being able to see that it really is there. It’s special and it means so much to me.”

Here’s a look at some Canadian players and how they’re contributing through the first four games of the 2020.

Chase Claypool, Pittsburgh Steelers

3 GP | 6 REC | 151 YARDS | 1 TD

Three games into his NFL career, Claypool has built up a nice collection of highlights so far. His first catch came on Monday Night Football as he stretched his arms to catch a 28-yard pass along the sidelines while keeping his feet inbounds.

A great play, but it was outdone by the rookie a week later with Claypool’s first career touchdown: an 84-yard catch for the score.

It was an historic play for the Abbotsford, B.C., native, as it set a new record for the longest touchdown from scrimmage by a Canadian-born player in NFL history.

rookie WR Chase Claypool scored his first career TD today, and it was an 84-yard beauty.

: @NFL pic.twitter.com/5nZGoHl2aU

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 20, 2020

Claypool’s emergence with the Steelers has many talking about the potential he can achieve in the NFL, garnering him the nickname “Mapletron,” partially a nod to former Detroit Lions receiver and 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame nominee Calvin Johnson.

Now, as Claypool starts to see his playing time increase – from 30 per cent of the offensive snaps from Week 1 to 76 per cent in Week 3 – he believes he is ready for more responsibilities.

“It was good to get a full game under my belt just to know what to expect going in there the next time that might happen,” Claypool recently told reporters about his increased time on the field. “It definitely speeds up your development, but I don’t think there’s too much more of a gap that I need to fill in.”

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N’Keal Harry, New England Patriots

4 GP | 18 REC | 166 YARDS | 1 TD

Claypool isn’t the only Canadian-born receiver making an impact on his team this season, as Harry is benefiting from having a starting role with the Patriots. He only played in seven games during his rookie season – mainly because of injuries – and already has more receptions and receiving yards through four games in 2020 than in all of 2019.

The 22-year-old sits behind Julian Edelman for targets this season among Patriots receivers with 28 and is second in yards after the catch with 84. Harry’s first touchdown reception of the season was diving grab in the end zone this past Monday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.

BIG GAME. BIG PLAY.

’s @NkealHarry15 with an insane grab for his 1st TD of the season. pic.twitter.com/5mXIEkkyuk

— NFL Canada (@NFLCanada) October 6, 2020

Brent Urban, Chicago Bears

4 GP | 9 TACKLES | 1 SACK

The Bears brought in the Mississauga, Ont., native in 2019 after he was released by the Tennessee Titans and he has been an underrated part of the team’s defence.

After making four tackles against the Indianapolis Colts this past week, Urban received the highest grade (83.5) among all Bears defenders by Pro Football Focus, ahead of even Khalil Mack (81.6).

Urban had his best season in 2018 with the Baltimore Ravens, recording 26 tackles in 16 games. If he remains healthy and continues to see an uptick in snaps in the Windy City, then he should be able to surpass that.

Tyrone Crawford, Dallas Cowboys

4 GP | 5 TACKLES

Crawford saw his 2019 season cut short due to hip surgery and was still recovering heading into this summer’s training camp. So far through four games, he has played in 49 per cent of the Cowboys’ defensive snaps.

He suffered an ankle injury this past Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, which could present a challenge for he and the struggling Dallas defence going forward.

Christian Covington, Cincinnati Bengals

4 GP | 10 TACKLES

Covington was traded to the Bengals from the Denver Broncos on Sept. 4 and therefore didn’t get a lot of time to get acclimated with his new team.

He initially signed with Denver in April after spending the 2019 season with the Dallas Cowboys. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said recently that it took some time for the Vancouver native to get settled in with Cincinnati, but the team has been impressed with the number of quality snaps Covington has provided lately.