The Pittsburgh Steelers officially announced the hire of former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith on Friday after it was credibly reported earlier in the week that he would be the guy. One of the biggest parts of his job will be the development of third-year QB Kenny Pickett. Smith has experience working with quarterbacks at a variety of different stages of their careers, and he sat down for a one-on-one interview with Missi Matthews on the Steelers’ website to discuss the path to developing Pickett.
“First off, there’s a relationship that’s gotta be built between me and Kenny,” Smith said in a video of the segment posted on the Steelers’ website. “There’s a trust that’s gotta be built daily and goes both ways. I’ve gotta earn Kenny’s trust and vice versa as we build this offense, and all the things we wanna work on and we want him to work on, and take command of his offense.”
In Atlanta, Smith worked with a respected veteran like Matt Ryan before starting what he described as a rebuild and working with Desmond Ridder, a quarterback from the same draft class as Pickett. He also had experience working with Ryan Tannehill, who struggled with the Miami Dolphins before coming to Tennessee and becoming a Pro Bowler in 2019 under Smith’s offensive system.
“There were some good lessons learned,” Smith continued. “It’ll help me here, especially with some of the young players that we have and how you fit the offense and try to play to those guys’ strengths.”
The Steelers are among the youngest teams in the league on the offensive side of the ball. There are a lot of young and talented players that previously weren’t being maximized under Matt Canada’s conservative system. Guys like WR George Pickens saw long stretches of last season without many targets, and a speedy WR like Calvin Austin III barely received any looks in his second year with the team. Involving them more and developing the young core of talent in Pittsburgh will be one of Smith’s biggest tasks. Fortunately, it is something he has done before.
For Smith, it all comes back to the relationships and the trust between him and his players.
“I think everybody I’ve ever tried to coach, whether it’s been one day or five years, you try to build a relationship and get to know the person first,” Smith said. “This is a relationship business, and everybody’s different, and that’s one thing I’ll certainly go outta my way to make sure that we have a relationship.”
The Steelers, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, drew criticism from around the NFL media landscape last season for not having an identity or lacking leadership. Things like George Pickens’ debacle, or Diontae Johnson’s lack of effort after a fumble that required him to apologize to the team. Smith wants to make sure that everybody is on the same page with the same goal in mind, and as he stated in this interview multiple times, the first step in that process is fostering relationships and trust. With a young offense, it will help to have a strong leader in the new OC to start to instill that culture from the top down.
Pickett will very likely be the starter on day one, but after a frustrating 2023 season that saw him get benched in favor of Mason Rudolph, having a guy like Smith in his corner will be huge for his confidence which should give him space to continue his development.
