Steelers Have Big Plans for New Weapon

Jonnu Smith is a bit of a unicorn, at least by tight end standards, and he should carve out a sizable role with the Pittsburgh Steelers this season.

He's well-acquainted with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who coached him with both the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons, making for a seamless transition to Pittsburgh.

While appearing on 97.3 The Fan, ESPN's Brooke Pryor stated that she believes Arthur Smith will make ample use of Jonnu's versatility.

“I think that Arthur Smith is in heaven right now,” she said. "This is an Arthur Smith move. I think that [Jonnu] is going to be a Swiss Army knife type of weapon. I don’t want to necessarily say tight end three behind Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington because he is being paid to be more than a tight end. But I think he could do a little bit of everything in some ways.”

Smith is coming off a career year with the Miami Dolphins, posting personal highs with 88 catches, 884 yards and eight touchdowns. He was traded to the Steelers alongside cornerback Jalen Ramsey for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on June 30.

With a new one-year, $12 million contract in hand, Smith figures to garner a fair chunk of Pittsburgh's targets in the passing game alongside the likes of DK Metcalf, Calvin Austin III and Freiermuth.

Smith split out wide on 148 snaps in Miami last year while playing in the slot and inline on 254 and 198 occasions, respectively, according to Pro Football Focus. He logged just 80 snaps out wide while playing 274 inline and 268 from the slot in 2023 under Arthur Smith, who was serving as the Falcons' head coach at the time, though perhaps that'll change this upcoming campaign.

Jonnu primarily lined up inline in Tennessee with Arthur Smith at the helm, who was his position coach from 2016 to 2018 before receiving a promotion to offensive coordinator in 2019.

There's an abundance of ways in which the Steelers can utilize Smith, which should contribute to the team's offense becoming a far more dynamic unit.