Darnell Washington is the latest player to discuss the significant differences he sees in the Pittsburgh Steelers offense under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. It’s the most change we have heard from either side of the ball since they hired Todd Haley to the same post over a decade ago. And no surprise, either, as it’s the most radical departure from their previous system since then.
Every player who has spoken of changes from previous seasons in the offense has glowed while talking about the differences. Of course, everything is wonderful during the offseason, but there’s still something to the widespread approval for this system. And tight ends have a particularly strong reason to approve, as Washington knows.
“For me, it’s very exciting. Definitely in a tight-end-friendly offense”, Washington told reporters yesterday, via the team’s website. “Just out there, different schemes from last year. Just going against our defense, they kind of expect last year, but then when we switch it up, they’d be like, [confused]. It’s an adjustment for them as well, so it’s for sure exciting in this offense”.
It seemed at least once a month an opposing defense would allude to the predictability of Matt Canada’s offense. We can’t say for sure that Arthur Smith will be the Riddler of offensive coordinators. But it’s hard to imagine him being the open book Canada seemed to be.
And players like Darnell Washington appreciate the differences that he sees Smith bringing to the offense. Asked for what changes he sees himself, the second-year tight end said, “One of the things I would say is the route tree. That’s probably one of my main things”.
Again, we have accused Canada’s offense of being stuck in very predictable, repetitious routes. If we are noticing these things, then so are opposing NFL teams. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Steelers hired Canada, but also a new wide receivers coach. Of course, Washington is a tight end, but he knows he has to work on this aspect of his game.
Although partially due to injury, the tight ends only accounted for 536 yards of offense in 2023. TE Pat Freiermuth had more than that on his own in 2022. Of course, Freiermuth missed a number of games last year. But the Steelers hardly used Washington in the passing game. That doesn’t mean Smith will feature him, but the tight end seems to believe he will have a bigger role.
The sheer volume of snaps for tight ends is another predicted departure for Smith from Canada. Smith has a long history of using heavy personnel, and Washington already logged a lot of snaps as a rookie. “Throwing multiple tight ends in there at once can mess some defenses up”, he said. “I feel like that’s part of the game”.
Time will tell if Arthur Smith’s offense is everything tight ends like Darnell Washington dream. But I think it’s telling in and of itself that so many players readily bought into changes. They knew that what they were doing wasn’t working.
