The Pittsburgh Steelers made their big off-season coaching staff move on Tuesday, hiring former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to be their new offensive coordinator, according to NFL Network's Tom Pellisero.
In the middle of this past season, the Steelers OC fired Matt Canada, a move the fan base had been clamoring for for quite some time.
Now, another much-maligned coaching figure lands in the Steel City to try to bring creativity to an offense that was severely lacking it in recent years.
It's only fair to note that while the management of this past season of Atlanta's offense was a failure, Smith's Falcons significantly outperformed their talent level in his first two years in charge.
What Does This Mean for the Steelers' Young Offensive Talent?
You can brace yourself for a year of jokes about avoiding George Pickens in next year's fantasy drafts given the real and perceived proclivity that Smith had for working players lower on the depth chart into the game plan.
The decision to split carries between Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allegier wound up being a poor one, but a 50/50 split for Pittsburgh running backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren could actually be a good thing.
Harris entered this season as the lead back, but Warren's superior effectiveness began to matter for their respective snap counts as the season went on. Warren got more looks, and Harris got fewer.
The result? Pittsburgh actually had a very strong ground attack. Harris had a particularly rough stretch from weeks 5 to 8. In week 9, Warren had his first double-digit carry game of the season, and the two combined for 157 rushing yards in what became a very effective timeshare.
If Smith and Tomlin come to that same conclusion, it could prove to be another strong year for Harris and Warren, as keeping them both fresh and splitting the work seems to be key to their respective success.
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Can Arthur Smith Help Turn Kenny Pickett Around?
2023 was not a good year to hold Kenny Pickett stock. The 2022 first-round pick followed up a promising rookie campaign with an absolute dud.
Pickett got injured in December and missed the rest of the season, but while he was healthy, his play was not good. The Pitt alum had just one game in which he threw for more than one touchdown, and he had six full games in which he threw for zero.
To make matters worse, the Steelers offense got a lot less stagnant through the air when Mason Rudolph took the helm.
Pickett will get another chance this season because the Steelers invested a first round pick in him, but the fact that it was not a high one makes 2024 a make-or-break year for him.
Ironically, the inability to hit on a quarterback from the 2022 draft class likely played a key role in Smith losing the Atlanta job, as Desmond Ridder struggled this season, and the Falcons had no real long-term plan at quarterback.
Smith and Pickett are both in desperate need of pulling it together next year, and it will be interesting to see if the former Titans offensive coordinator who called Ryan Tannehill's most successful years can have similar success with Pickett.
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