Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith sure loves his tight ends.
That was clear when the Steelers hired him back in February, and it became even more clear on Sunday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Offensively in the first game under Smith’s guidance, the Steelers used two or more tight ends 59.1% of the time, meaning 12, 13 or 14 personnel, as Steelers Depot’s Dave Bryan pointed out Sunday night following the win.
Of the 66 plays the Steelers ran offensively Sunday in the win over the Falcons, the Steelers had two or more tight ends on the field for 39 of them. That’s a heavy dosage.
As Bryan pointed out above, that’s 27 snaps with one tight end on the field, 20 snaps with three tight ends, 17 snaps with two tight ends and two snaps with four tight ends.
Again, that’s not a surprise knowing Arthur Smith and how he likes to run an offense. Having four-deep at TE in Pittsburgh certainly helps him, too, calling on Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, MyCole Pruitt and Connor Heyward anytime he wants.
What was a surprise, though, is how the snaps were distributed against the Falcons.
Just a few days after signing a four-year, $48.4 million extension with the Steelers to keep him in Pittsburgh long-term, Pat Freiermuth played 51 snaps and was a constant on the field. He finished with 4 receptions for 27 yards in the win over the Falcons.
There was no question Freiermuth was going to get a ton of work from a snaps perspective under Smith. What was a surprise, though, was the fact that Pruitt, who followed Smith from Atlanta to Pittsburgh this offseason, had the second-most snaps in Week 1 against the Falcons.
Pruitt played 40 snaps Sunday and was solid as a blocker. He also had a reception for 9 yards on the day, seeing 2 targets overall against Atlanta.
While Smith has spoken highly of Pruitt since he signed with the Steelers, along with the fact that Pruitt had a solid training camp and preseason, it was still surprising to see Pruitt out-snapped Darnell Washington.
Washington, a true blocking tight end who is expected to take a step forward as a receiver this season, played 37 snaps in the win. Connor Heyward played just 5 offensive snaps.
According to Pro Football Focus grades, Pruitt graded out at a 63.8 overall, including a 77.2 in pass blocking and a 69.7 as a run blocker. Washington graded out at a 62.3 overall, including a 76.5 as a pass blocker and a 65.3 as a run blocker.
Freiermuth graded out at a 55.7 overall from PFF, including a 66.3 in pass blocking and a 41.6 as a run blocker, while Heyward was the best of the bunch from a grades perspective at 77.1 overall in his 5 snaps, including an 81.7 as a run blocker.
The snap counts and the usage was rather interesting. Smith has a history with Pruitt, and with it being the first game and needing someone out there who knows the system, maybe that’s why Pruitt got a bunch of work. Maybe his snap count will dwindle as the season progresses.
Right now, though, it seems like Pruitt is going to have a big role in the TE room, which doesn’t bode well for a guy like Heyward moving forward.
We’ll see what the snap counts and usage look like on Sunday in Denver, but that was an interesting development to see, not only in-game, but coming out of it from a snap count perspective, too.
