When the Pittsburgh Steelers found themselves in the midst of an offensive coordinator search, Arthur Smith quickly emerged as the top option for the Black and Gold.
Considering the weapons already on the roster and the style the Steelers very clearly want to play under head coach Mike Tomlin, Smith philosophy and experience stood out — and ultimately led to his hiring him for the open position.
Now, moving forward, Smith has a tall task in front of him, not only trying to help develop quarterback Kenny Pickett but also getting the most out of the Steelers’ number of weapons on offense, including wide receivers George Pickens and Diontae Johnson.
For The Ringer’s Benjamin Solak on the latest episode of the podcast “Extra Point Taken”, how much success the Steelers have with the Smith hire — or ultimately don’t have — depends on how Smith is able to incorporate Johnson and Pickens into his offense along with how Tomlin is able to handle the two emotional receivers.
“…It is interesting to me that with Pickens being, I think, like such a nice emerging young talent that they have, with Diontae being a second-contract guy who they really like and with having all those issues they had getting them the ball last year, they brought in a guy who, if you have a criticism of his offense, he doesn’t get the ball to his wide receivers enough,” Solak said regarding the Smith hire and the issues that could arise in Pittsburgh.
While Solak has long been a proponent of Smith as an offensive mind and stated that he likes the hire overall, he does have some concerns that will need to be addressed — and quickly — in Pittsburgh.
During his time as head coach in Atlanta, a common criticism of Smith was his seemingly inability to get his key weapons the football consistently. The numbers show that wasn’t exactly the case though. Wide receiver Drake London had 117 and 110 targets in his first two seasons in the NFL, while rookie running back Bijan Robinson had 272 touches in 2023. Even backup running back Tyler Allgeier had 204 touches on the season.
Tight end Kyle Pitts had 90 targets, too, tied with San Francisco’s George Kittle for 9th-most among all tight ends in football.
The issue, primarily, was quarterback play, which ultimately got Smith fired. Pittsburgh doesn’t exactly have an answer at quarterback either. But Solak is banking on the Steelers figuring it out with all parties involved.
“Now again, big sample Tennessee, A.J. Brown, they got that young man the football, right? They had far less of an issue,” Solak said. “And so what you’re banking on is you’re banking on Tomlin: A, being able to manage Pickens and Diontae, which I think is a good bank. I think that’s a good bet. And B, you’re betting on Smith as the offensive coordinator and having to do less personnel management and team management CEO stuff, putting him back in the offensive lab and saying, ‘Okay, one of the things that worked for you in Tennessee that got you the Atlanta job but didn’t work for you in Atlanta made you lose the job was you couldn’t play where your bread was buttered.’
“‘You couldn’t feed the beast, you couldn’t get the ball to your top receivers. You need to address that, you need to get back to that.’ And I think if Smith can, I really like the way Smith calls offense and that’s why I waffle on it. There’s so much that hinges here on Tomlin, Pickens and Diontae, Smith and how that triumvirate kind of interacts with one another.”
The Steelers had issues getting Pickens and Johnson the football at times last season, leading to some blowups on and off the field from an emotional standpoint. Both had moments of very poor effort that led to serious criticism both locally and nationally. That seemed to be resolved late in the season with the emergence of quarterback Mason Rudolph, who played rather well down the stretch. But Pickett is going to get another shot to try and correct some of his issues while getting another crack at the NFL game with a competent coordinator.
That said, things have the chance to go off the rails again if Smith’s scheme isn’t conducive to getting the ball to his weapons in the passing game. Chances are, that won’t happen again. Smith didn’t have that issue in Tennessee when he had competent quarterback play. He should at least be able to get that in Pittsburgh this time around.
If not though, look out.
