It should not come as a surprise that new Pittsburgh Steelers’ Offensive Coordinator Arthur Smith has had his hands all over the offense and not just in terms of play design. It’s also obvious that he’s had a hand in the personnel decisions made by the team in recent weeks and I have to think that will continue into the Draft in three weeks.
Yesterday, the Steelers added another former Smith player in tight end MyCole Pruitt. This comes on the heels of the Steelers also bringing in kick return specialist and running back Cordarrelle Patterson, also a guy who has spent time in Arthur Smith’s system.
Do not fear fans of Pat Freiermuth… Pruitt isn’t coming here to replace ‘Muth as the starting tight end. He’s a guy that is entering his 11th season in the NFL and his highest reception total over his first ten seasons was 16 in 2022. So relax, he isn’t here to upset the apple cart in that regard. Now what, or rather who, could be affected is another question. With Freiermuth and Darnell Washington already in place, what does Pruitt’s signing mean for Connor Heyward?
Arthur Smith’s system really doesn’t use a fullback and besides, Heyward really isn’t one anyway. The Steelers could keep four tight ends (they’ve done it before), but how likely is that? One could argue that with the wide receiver room in such disarray at the moment, maybe keeping an extra tight end is the best option right now. Smith likes to deploy a lot of two tight end sets anyway so yeah, it makes sense. Again though, that depends on how they view Heyward.
Rodney Williams will push for a roster spot and I won’t be surprised if he gets one based simply on how Smith uses these guys. Williams was really good on Special Teams last year and is known for his blocking which the Steelers typically covet over all else at the position. Could he even take the spot of the newly signed Pruitt once the rosters are set in August? Don’t rule it out.
The fact that Smith has so much of “his” offense coming together shouldn’t be overly surprising. Dick LeBeau and Bruce Arians essentially had the same type of situation during their times as coordinators. Credit the organization for going ‘all-in’ on this and other changes during the offseason. I’m really curious now to see how Smith’s influence works during the Draft in just a couple of weeks.
