New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith came to the Pittsburgh Steelers with a reputation for deploying multiple tight-end sets.
In his debut as the Steelers’ play-caller, Smith was as advertised.
“We thought we felt good about our tight ends on their (outside linebackers),” Smith said of Sunday’s Week 1 matchup at the Atlanta Falcons. “And a little bit of it was controlling the line of scrimmage, (but) we’ve got big, strong tight ends that could do multiple jobs.”
Four of them, in fact. And during the season opener they combined to play 132 offensive snaps. During a game in which the Steelers offense ran 68 plays, that equates to an average of two tight ends on the field per play.
Steelers tight ends had sixth-fewest targets in NFL last season. That should change in Arthur Smith’s offense, and the group couldn’t be happier with the changes they have seen so far. https://t.co/bnotDr59Ef
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) May 29, 2024
According to Sharp Football Analysis, the Steelers against the Falcons deployed three tight ends on 30.3% of their snaps. That, by far, led the NFL in Week 1. The second-highest rate of that personnel grouping was 16.7% by the Los Angeles Chargers.
“It’s got to be where you think it’s an advantage,” Smith said of using “13” personnel (football parlance for one running back and three tight ends). “Week to week, it’ll change, but, certainly, going on that week, it was unknown. (Atlanta) had a lot of five down, six down structures.
“I joke that when you get into combination with Darnell (Washington) and one of our tackles, that’s 650 pounds coming at you. So most of these OLBs aren’t made to do that. But it’ll change week to week depending on schemes, matchup, but I thought they handled that part well.”
Two days after signing a four-year contract extension, Pat Freiermuth played 50 of the Steelers’ 68 offensive snaps (74%) during the 18-10 win in Atlanta. Veteran newcomer MyCole Pruitt played 40 snaps, Washington 37 snaps and Connor Heyward five.
Freiermuth caught all four of his targets for 27 yards, Pruitt had a 9-yard reception among the two balls thrown his way and Washington’s only target went for a 5-yard catch.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.