The Pittsburgh Steelers proved they’re not yet done with free agency ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft, reportedly agreeing to a one-year deal with veteran TE MyCole Pruitt Thursday night. Though the team seemed stocked at tight end, Pruitt is following Arthur Smith to Pittsburgh after playing under him in Tennessee from 2018 to 2020 and in Atlanta from 2022 to 2023.
Once an athletic, small-school sleeper, Pruitt is 32 with plenty of mileage. What can he offer? Let’s break down his game as a blocker, receiver, and overall usage with some final thoughts at the end.
MyCole Pruitt Scouting Report
Run/Pass Blocking
– High-energy blocker who runs his feet and looks to finish
– Uses angles and leverage well to down block and seal
– Good upper-body strength
– Uses length well in pass protection and has experience blocking defensive ends solo in pass game
– Highly experienced in-line blocker and tasked to take on defensive ends
– Needs to improve overall snap timing and can be slow out of stance
– Pad level will pop up on goal line and can get uprighted
– Tends to lean and double over while defending edge/speed rushes in pass pro
What’s clear and obvious about MyCole Pruitt is that he’s a blocker. That’s his job and was his role in all the tape I studied on him. A true in-line Y, Pruitt was used on run downs and run personnel, 12 and 22 groupings. The good news is he’s a solid blocker who quietly does his job. He’s strong and uses leverage and angles well as a blocker. His energy and fight, driving his feet, are important assets, and Pruitt gets after it in the run game. His tape includes a finish and pancake on Steelers FS Minkah Fitzpatrick.
And here, as the LDE slides down a gap right before the snap, Pruitt adjusts. The idea being “take him where he wants to go” in that if he’s shooting the gap, just wash and ride him down. Let the running back “make you right” by cutting back off your hip. A good rep, even if it doesn’t look pretty.
And Pruitt was trusted in pass protection, often either with just a bit of inside help from the tackle and sometimes even solo. He has good length (33 1/2-inch arms) and utilizes it well in pass protection against defensive ends. Expectations have to be relative but even when taking on pass rushers by himself, he can buy time off play-pass concepts that Arthur Smith will lean on in Pittsburgh.
Pruitt can be a little erratic off the snap. He can be late off the ball, and if your snap timing isn’t great at 32, it probably isn’t getting much better this year. On the goal line, he can get uprighted and knocked back against hard-charging EDGE players. Couple examples here.
Pass Game
– Soft hands and catches away from his body
– Shows physicality as a route runner, able to bump defenders off-balance
– Fights hard for yardage
– Red zone threat (25 percent of catches last two years went for touchdowns)
– Secondary option in pass game with light production, primary blocker and usually only targeted off play-action
– Runs a bit tall in his routes
– Won’t run away from anyone, limited YAC threat
Pruitt has been a forgotten man in the passing game except for in the red zone with five total touchdowns the last two years. All have come in the red zone, four within seven yards, and three within five yards. Finding tape on him as a receiver is tough simply due to his lack of involvement, just 25 receptions over his last two years despite over 700 offensive snaps.
But he makes plays in the red zone. Against Pittsburgh in 2022, he fought his way into the end zone here, just barely breaking the plane but scoring all the same.
And as Dave Bryan tweeted, Pruitt showed his physicality to muscle through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense for this score late in the 2022 season.
But there isn’t much to note here as a receiver. He can catch in the flat off play-action but in terms of a true route tree, he was pretty limited in usage and targeted even less than that. It’s not why he’s coming to Pittsburgh, even though he could catch a touchdown or two knowing how Arthur Smith spreads the ball around inside the 20, a fact he’s acknowledged in the past, wanting to keep guys hungry and engaged.
Usage
– 2022 and 2023 with Atlanta: 25 receptions 260 yards (10.4 YPC) 5 TDs
– 321 offensive snaps in 2022, 402 offensive snaps in 2023
– 127 snaps on kick return unit (front line blocker) past two combined seasons
– 109 career games (39 starts), 71 receptions for 748 yards (10.5 YPC) 12 TDs
– 40 backfield/FB snaps the last two combined years
Pruitt’s box score production is light, but he still saw routine snaps with the Falcons despite a bunch of other tight ends he was competing with like Kyle Pitts and Jonnu Smith. Could he play a little fullback? Feels like something Connor Heyward could try but Pruitt has a bit of time there and is a bigger and better run/base blocker. We’ll see how it works out.
As is a hallmark of Smith’s offense, the tight end room is heavy. It’s realistic to think they’ll keep four and right now they have five candidates: Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Connor Heyward, Rodney Williams, and Pruitt. Obviously, Freiermuth and Washington are locks while Heyward has good odds due to his versatility and special teams value. We’ll see how the rest fit in. But this offense is feeling like how Smith likes to run things, making Pruitt’s inclusion less of a surprise even if it makes for a crowded tight end group. He’s a fine blocker who knows the offense and can help the returning players learn it, which at the least, is useful.
