As part of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive overhaul, they hired Zach Azzanni to be their new wide receiver coach. Azzanni has garnered a reputation of someone who’s going to push his guys, and despite a wide receiver room that may be underwhelming on paper, Azzanni could make it work. On the No. 1 Cochran Sports Showdown, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said that even if the Steelers don’t add at receiver, Azzanni and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith will get the most out of the room they have.
“From what I’ve seen so far, Zach Azzanni is a guy, and Arthur Smith as well. He’s gonna get the most out of his receivers. If you look at Arthur Smith’s rosters when he was with Tennessee, really good offenses, they weren’t deep at receiver. So he could maybe get it done with this type of group if he has to,” Fittipaldo said.
The Steelers have a lot of players behind George Pickens with decent experience, even if they haven’t always been toward the top of the top depth chart. Van Jefferson, Scotty Miller and Quez Watkins have all played a solid number of snaps in their career. Calvin Austin III and Roman Wilson are still young, and although Austin is in his third season, it’ll be the second he sees the field. It’s a group that Smith can work with, and the value of the receiver in his offense to begin with is pretty low.
His final season in Tennessee, he had two talented receivers in A.J. Brown and Corey Davis, who both had 90-plus targets. The No. 3 receiver was Adam Humphries, who had just 35 targets. The year before, Brown led the team with just 84 targets. I’m using the Tennessee comparison for reference since that’s what Fittipaldo used, but going back to last season, the disparity is even bigger. Mack Hollins was the second-most targeted receiver with just 30 targets, while Drake London had 110 targets as the team’s leading receiver.
The point is that Azzanni can coach up the receiver room to be ready and get the most out of them when called upon, but the Steelers aren’t going to need whoever functions as their No. 2 to play a huge role in the offense. Pat Freiermuth will likely be the second-most targeted player behind Pickens, while Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris should get some looks out of the backfield. The ball is going to be spread around, so even without a clear-cut No. 2 option right now, it’s a group that Azzanni and Smith can work with and make successful.
We’ll see who winds up winning the WR2 battle, as through four days of training camp with no pads it’s too early to tell. Whoever does win the spot might not need to be counted on for any sort of big role.
