Former NFL quarterback Brady Quinn discussed the Pittsburgh Steelers’ reported hiring of Arthur Smith as the team’s offensive coordinator, and he pushed back on some on the complaints about Smith not getting the ball to his weapons enough as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. On the 2 Pros And A Cup Of Joe podcast, Quinn talked about why he thinks Smith could work as a play caller in Pittsburgh.
“People felt like they didn’t get Bijan Robinson the ball enough, Kyle Pitts during the course of the time he’s been there. I don’t know if that’s the case with Drake London, but it’s hard to look at what the case was with the Atlanta Falcons because some of that had to do with the quarterback situation,” Quinn said. “If you go back to his time calling plays in Tennessee, they were top-12 at a minimum, top-10 offense for the two years he was there as a play caller. So it all depends on what you’re really getting.”
Quinn questioned whether the Steelers could look to add a veteran quarterback this offseason because Kenny Pickett could have the same problems Desmond Ridder did in Atlanta, though Pickett is a lot less turnover-prone than Ridder. It doesn’t feel all that likely that the Steelers will add a veteran like Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins, two names that Quinn threw out, and in a run-heavy offense, Pickett figures to get another chance, but there’s no doubt he needs to improve.
Quinn also took issue with the complaints over the usage of Robinson and Pitts in Atlanta.
“Bijan Robinson, who as a rookie, mind you, there’s obviously some dynamics to that, I don’t know how much you want to use your rookie in their first year until he feels comfortable,” Quinn said. “Bijan was phenomenal. He averaged over four-and-a-half yards per attempt, but he had 214 carries. He had 58 receptions. I mean, it’s a decent workload for a running back on most teams, let alone one that’s just at the start of his career that’s a rookie that you’re still implementing him into the system. It was kind of odd that people said they should’ve given him the ball more.”
He also pointed out that Pitts had the second-most targets on the team.
“I think there’s a disconnect too in the execution and what’s happening on the field and were those stats and results what they equated to,” Quinn said.
The quarterback play likely played a factor, Quinn noted, which again poses the question of whether Pickett can be the Steelers’ guy. But Smith’s system could work to Pickett’s strengths while getting the most out of Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris in the backfield. Pedigree-wise, Pickett was considered a better quarterback than Ridder coming out of college, and he was taken in the first round while Ridder was a third-round pick in the same draft. This is the year where Pickett will have to prove he’s the guy, but there’s reason to believe his production could jump and he could at least be a better option than Ridder was in Atlanta.
I’ve said it a million times, but I just don’t see the Steelers adding a veteran like Wilson, Cousins or Justin Fields, and when you look at the complaints about usage from star players in Atlanta’s offense, it just doesn’t align with the actual numbers. Robinson got a lot of work for a rookie running back, and people discount Tyler Allgeier, who was coming off a 1,035-yard season as a rookie under Smith in 2022, as bit. Pitts got his targets, and it just feels like the complaints are coming from people who just look at players’ fantasy football production.
What the Steelers have now with Warren and Harris in the backfield jibes well with what worked for Smith in Tennessee. Pickett is a question mark, and without seeing him on the field, it’s hard to definitively say he’s going to be better. But the Steelers won 10 games last season with Pickett playing substandard football and Mason Rudolph taking the reins at the end of the season, and Smith is a major upgrade over the play calling the Steelers had last season.
The quarterback question with Pickett and the Steelers is real, but given what Smith was able to do with Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee — the latter had the two best seasons in his career under Smith — lends hope that Pickett can at least turn it around a little bit and be a better option than Ridder was in Atlanta. There’s a lot to like about Smith’s prior success as an OC, and I do think he’ll get the most out of Pittsburgh’s weapons.
