With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we have turned our attention to the offseason. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: TE Connor Heyward
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Steelers players and coaches continue to talk up second-year tight end Connor Heyward from a playmaking perspective, characterizing him as a mismatch option for the offense and seeming to imply an active approach to utilizing him more.
I believe Connor Heyward reached or exceeded the expectations that most had for him during his rookie season. The sixth-round draft pick managed to log 174 snaps on offense (in addition to 284 more on special teams), catching 12 passes for 151 yards with one touchdown, plus two rushed for 27 yards.
For a team that already had Pat Freiermuth and Zach Gentry, as well as fullback Derek Watt, that was rather a plateful. But realistically speaking, how much can that role expand as he moves into his second season?
After all, there is only one football in play at a time, and the Steelers are going to have to figure out how to get it spread out among the likes of Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, Allen Robinson II, Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, Freiermuth, and now Darnell Washington, not to mention Calvin Austin III returning as well.
One thing that may help is the fact that Watt is no longer here, which would allow Heyward to play in that fullback role, if he proves up to it. The fact that he has good hands and is a capable route runner could make 21 or 22 personnel more tempting for the Steelers to run, since it won’t as clearly indicate a run.
Still, the way his coaches and teammates are talking about him, it almost sounds as though there are big plans for him. That’s surely at least in part a byproduct of the simple fact that reporters are asking people questions about him and they will naturally be inclined to talk him up.
At the end of the day, you simply have to question how big a role a player like Heyward can have in an offense that already has so many mouths to feed. But if trying to find Heyward more opportunities is among your biggest problems, then you may just be in good shape, after all.
