As an offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith is something of an anomaly. Most in his position are the quarterback whisperers. The pass-game gurus. Those are the resumes that get noticed the most, garner all the interviews, and people teams covet. Smith? He’s old school. A former offensive lineman who worked up the ranks coaching tight ends. And when Pittsburgh tabbed him as its next OC, it was a happy day for Pat Freiermuth, Connor Heyward, and the Steelers’ tight end group.
Appearing on 93.7 The Fan Wednesday afternoon, reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala said she believes Freiermuth and Heyward could have big seasons.
“This is something I said to Pat Freiermuth and I’ll say it again and I think we’ve talked about it a lot. I think he’s really set to have a monster year,” she told The Fan’s Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller. “I think Connor Heyward could have a big year. I think this is a play caller who is going to get the ball in the hands of guys who can make plays and is not a slave to any one idea.”
Smith’s offenses are known for being populated by tight ends, not wide receivers. As we’ve noted several times, Smith used 11 personnel, three receiver sets, a league-low 17 percent of the time in 2023. His favorite groupings deployed two tight ends.
Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington sit atop the depth chart, but the team can mix and match. Each tight end on the roster has a different skill set. Freiermuth is sure-handed, Washington a hulking blocker, Heyward an athletic chess piece, Rodney Williams brings special teams value, and MyCole Pruitt knows Smith’s system. The team is loaded at tight end to the point where it will have to make a tough cut, five players worthy of the 53 at a position where the team will keep no more than four.
In 2023, Heyward nearly doubled his rookie receptions, but his yards barely increased, and he failed to find the end zone. His usage was mostly stuck to catching short passes in the flat off quarterback rollouts. Freiermuth’s year was marred by injury, the former second-round pick catching only 30 passes after becoming the second tight end to ever record 60 receptions his first two years.
While Smith likes putting tight ends on the field, it doesn’t always translate to big numbers. As we pointed out yesterday, he likes to spread the ball around and it’s rare for a tight end to dominate target share. The only example of that is Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts in his rookie season, finishing with 68 receptions and 1,026 yards, though he found the end zone just once. But his production dipped the past two years and Smith was criticized for not using him enough. Beyond that, the tight end position has been involved but without a standout at the position.
It’s partly because Smith loves to run the ball. In four of his five years as coordinator or head coach, his offenses have finished top 10 in rushing attempts. It limits the number of overall targets, which brings down receiving numbers of the whole group. As things stand today, Freiermuth is the No. 2 tight end and should be active in the passing game, but his numbers might end up looking similar to his first two seasons rather than surpassing those totals.
