A lot has been made over new Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith not utilizing his weapons well enough in Atlanta. While that may be overblown, one thing that Smith did do well in Atlanta was put his best receivers in a position to succeed with their routes. Reception Perception founder Matt Harmon talked on Reception Perception The Show about Smith’s hiring in Pittsburgh, and why he thinks Diontae Johnson and George Pickens will be able to excel under Smith.
“George Pickens in 2022, full Matt Canada offense that year, 7.7 percent of his routes were a dig route, slant, 10.7 percent. You want to look at Drake London from his rookie season, 16.6 percent of his routes were dig routes,” Harmon said. “Diontae Johnson, 9.4 percent of his routes in 2022 were dig routes, full Matt Canada offense. We’re gonna finally see, I think, these guys running routes over the middle of the field. Those are the efficient routes we want receivers to be running. So all the weirdness aside with Arthur Smith, I do think this part of it for the receivers fits with what we want to see George Pickens doing, as that big X receiver who can run over the middle of the field and when he gets into space can make big-time plays.”
Under Canada’s offense, Harmon said Pickens and Johnson were running routes without a purpose, and that the route concepts not making any sense hindered their success.
“It wasn’t even annoying that, oh my God, all George Pickens does is run vertical routes, which was super annoying, but he’s running a vertical route for no purpose. He’s just over there at the X iso spo, running a corner route, running a go route, clearing out nothing, clearing out a drag for the guy on the other side of the field.”
Canada’s offense was criticized by former Steeler Jace Sternberger, who said there was never any “why” as to what players were doing. That’s a big change with Smith, who emphasizes the “why” in teaching his players. That plays into having players actually run routes that make sense, with routes that help clear things out for other guys and can utilize the talents of Johnson or Pickens better than they were able to under Canada.
It’s not hard to imagine any upgrade from what Canada’s offense was. It was a mess with rudimentary schemes and route concepts, and bringing in someone like Smith who was able to utilize his stars well in Tennessee as an offensive coordinator should bode well for the production out of Johnson and Pickens.
Quarterback play is going to be a factor, but getting routes that work to scheme receivers open could make things easier for Kenny Pickett, as well, assuming he’s the guy under center for the Steelers next year. The offense may also tend to be more run-heavy, but it was this year and Pickens was still able to eclipse 1,000 yards and Johnson had 717 yards in just 13 games due to injury.
The two of them are going to be the primary weapons in the passing game for the Steelers, who are unlikely to add another notable name at wide receiver, and with Smith being able to get them on route concepts that complement each other and free them up, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see both Johnson and Pickens put up better numbers in 2024.
