The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking to add at least one more offensive weapon. Maybe even two. But acquiring any player in June comes with a caveat. The talent pool has dried up and the players available have at least one red flag. Former NFL general manager Doug Whaley shared his concerns with the Steelers potentially adding TE Jonnu Smith and WR Gabe Davis.
“For me it’s one of those things where you’re gonna expose yourself to another old guy getting hurt and is he gonna bring that much to the table that in the middle of the season when it’s harder to find somebody,” Whaley said Wednesday morning on 93.7 The Fan. “You’re gonna be minus a receiver or a tight end because of him getting injured and him being old as a player.”
Smith turns 30 this August, an arbitrary but largely accepted cutoff of when a skill player becomes “old.” Coming off a career season, he’s angling for a contract extension as his last and best bet for a bite at the apple, cashing in before his age concerns teams enough to avoid paying him good money.
Alone, that can be cause for concern, but Whaley doesn’t mention Smith’s track record of durability. In eight NFL seasons, he’s missed just seven games and played in at least 13 every season. Over the past two years, Smith has appeared in every regular-season game. Not even the far-younger Pat Freiermuth can say that after missing five games in 2023.
Still, there’s a worthwhile hesitation in paying Smith to play well into his 30s. His contract wouldn’t be massive but notable, likely falling into the $7-9 million range as an average yearly value. It makes the structure of any extension key. That wouldn’t help the team if he was injured midseason, but Pittsburgh has depth at tight end even after losing Donald Parham Jr. to a torn Achilles. Freiermuth and Darnell Washington are the team’s starters. Smith wouldn’t be traded for to come in and play 800 offensive snaps.
Whaley shared his concerns with Davis, too.
“Gabe Davis, big-play Gabe,” he said. “Absolutely, I like him. But you’re also gonna have those big plays and you’re gonna have those, ‘what the.’ Because he’s gonna drop balls. And he’s really a one trick pony.”
Davis is a field stretcher and big-play threat. Before his down year in Jacksonville, he generated nearly 17 yards per reception in four seasons with the Buffalo Bills. In 2023, Davis snagged 45 receptions for 746 yards and seven touchdowns. Drops were a concern early in his career, 14 of them across the 2021 and 2022 seasons, but a problem he’s cleaned up more recently. Of wide receivers and tight ends the past two seasons with at least 50 receptions, Davis ranks 18th out of 113 qualifiers in drop rate.
Overall, Whaley seemed to like the idea of adding Davis more than Smith.
“I don’t mind that one at all,” he said.
Though Gabe Davis is 26 and far younger than Jonnu Smith, it’s interesting Whaley didn’t focus on his injury history, which is more prevalent and concerning than Smith’s. Jacksonville cut Davis last month with a failed physical designation stemming from a 2024 torn meniscus. It wasn’t his first knee injury, either. In January 2024, he suffered a PCL sprain against the Miami Dolphins, though he didn’t miss a game because of it.
For a receiver reliant on speed and big plays, that history is notable. It doesn’t mean Pittsburgh should avoid signing him, especially knowing the no-risk financial investment with the Jaguars on the hook for his 2025 salary, but it runs in contrast to Whaley’s critique of Smith.
