The Steelers didn’t acquire Jonnu Smith as just an afterthought, but do they know precisely how they will use him? While he has played under Steelers OC Arthur Smith in different capacities over the years, this is a new situation. The good thing is that he is a pure addition, not somebody they have to rely on. But how exactly will it work, and what is best? Former Pro Football Focus analyst Steve Palazzolo weighed in on 93.7 The Fan.
“Jonnu Smith became a legitimate threat last year, especially as Tyreek Hill was battling injuries and as teams took away the deep ball,” he said about the Steelers’ new tight end. “I think he’s still a very good receiving weapon. I wouldn’t force the ball to him a ton, but in a situation in Pittsburgh where you have Pat Freiermuth, you have Darnell Washington, who could be the run-blocking type of tight end, I think you have some versatility to the offense. Jonnu Smith is just a really nice receiving complementary piece underneath.”
Now, I don’t know that the Steelers intend to pump Smith targets, but he isn’t a MyCole Pruitt 2.0, either. The 111 targets he saw last year with the Dolphins are an extreme aberration, his previous high being 70. That feels like a more sensible range, similar to his workload under Arthur Smith in other stops.
Now reunited with the Steelers, Arthur Smith gradually built up Jonnu’s workload. In 2020 with the Titans, Smith caught 65 targets, catching 41 for 448 yards and 8 touchdowns. In 2023 in Atlanta, he caught 50 of 70 targets for 582 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The touchdowns can fluctuate from year to year, but could be high this season. The Steelers don’t have many significant threats outside DK Metcalf, so Smith and Freiermuth should find work. Unlike Freiermuth, though, Smith isn’t limited to the red zone.
Of Jonnu Smith’s 28 career receiving touchdowns, he has six from explosive plays. He had a 57-yard touchdown last year in Miami and a 60-yarder in Atlanta a year earlier. Now, Freiermuth did have two “explosive” touchdowns last season, with a long of 25, and the other 20 yards.
But those are also the first explosive-play receiving touchdowns for the Steelers by a non-receiver since Najee Harris scored on a 25-yard catch-and-run in 2021, so that’s something Smith could potentially bring to the offense.
The question is, did we see an aberration in Miami, or did the Dolphins unlock something in the Steelers’ new tight end, Jonnu Smith? As Palazzolo argues, he has had a “strange career” with ebbs and flows. “He looked like a really athletic receiving-type of tight end early in his career. He went to New England for a year, and he was run blocking and they weren’t really using him properly,” he said. And then he grew, reconnecting with Arthur Smith and blossoming in Miami. Is that what the Steelers are getting, and how will they utilize that?
