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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — After a brief search led by head coach Mike Tomlin, the Pittsburgh Steelers are expected to hire former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith to be the team’s next offensive coordinator.
The Steelers selected him from a pool of three interviewed candidates that also included Houston Texans quarterback coach Jerrod Johnson and former Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown.
Smith checked the boxes Tomlin listed at his end-of-season news conference: external hire, previous offensive coordinator experience and a track record that suggests he can execute an offensive philosophy with the talent already on the Steelers’ roster. His underwhelming stint in Atlanta with three consecutive 7-10 seasons riddled with criticism about the usage of his best players immediately rankled portions of the Steelers faithful.
But in tabbing Smith to take the offense to the next level, the Steelers have signaled they value his experience as a playcaller beyond what he did in Atlanta — and that they’re committed to being a run-first team.
“I think we have an idea of what we want the Steeler offense to look like,” team president and owner Art Rooney II said Monday. “Start with that. … You can’t completely change your roster overnight, so you kind of have to have a coordinator that feels like they can work with this roster and be successful with it.
“Somebody that believes in that and comes in and can work with this roster, do what’s kind of already built here, in terms of the roster and some of the skill sets that we have. I think that’s what we’re looking for.”
Though his tenure in Atlanta doesn’t quite suggest it, Smith’s body of work — and tutelage under mentors with Steelers ties including Mike Munchak, Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Mularkey — shows he’s well-positioned to utilize a roster that has a potentially dominant running back tandem, especially if paired with an above-average offensive line and serviceable quarterback.
Smith’s offenses in Atlanta and Tennessee consistently had some of the league’s best rushing attacks. Anchored by one of the NFL’s premier running backs in Derrick Henry, the Titans averaged 153.5 rushing yards per game and 5.1 rushing yards per carry in Smith’s first two seasons, second in that two-year stretch to only the Baltimore Ravens. The Titans also averaged 2.02 rushing yards after contact and 133 rushes of 10-plus yards, both of which also ranked second in the league.
But Smith also found success on the ground without Henry as 2022 Falcons fifth-round pick Tyler Allgeier rushed for 1,035 yards in a breakout rookie season. That year, Smith’s Falcons ranked third in rushing yards and 10th in rushing touchdowns — a massive improvement from finishing 31st in rushing yards and 27th in rushing touchdowns in 2021, Smith’s first season in Atlanta. And in 2023, the Falcons ranked ninth in rushing yards per game and 15th in rushing touchdowns. The Steelers, meanwhile, ranked 13th in rushing yards and 11th in rushing touchdowns in 2023.
In his first two seasons in the NFL, Allgeier ranked second to only Henry in yards after contact, averaging 2.32 yards after contact per carry. That bodes well for both Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, who use yards after contact as a major part of their skill sets. Rooney even said he wants an offense seemingly led by its ground game.
“I think we have two high-performing running backs in Najee and Jaylen and they, along with an improving offensive line, can be the foundation of success going forward,” Rooney said Monday.
Smith, though, will have to find a more effective way to deploy a running back tandem than his system in 2023. In his final season with the Falcons, Smith was often criticized for his inconsistent usage of first-round running back Bijan Robinson. Though undeniably talented, Robinson fell short of a 1,000 rushing season and only had two 100-yard rushing games, both in the first month of the season. Though Robinson played 68% of offensive snaps, he had only 214 rush attempts and 86 targets. Allgeier, meanwhile, played 32% of offensive snaps and had 186 rush attempts and 23 targets.
Rooney noted that the two-back system benefited Harris, who finished the season with back-to-back 100-yard games for the first time in his career.
“I feel better about it now than I did a year ago or even two years ago,” Rooney said about a multiple-running back system. “I really feel good about having a two-headed monster, if you will, at running back. Two different style running backs, both very capable, and I think — with the right offensive line — can provide a real foundation for success going forward.”
In addition to Smith’s system benefiting the run game, it also bodes well for the Steelers’ tight ends. From 2021 to 2023, the Falcons ran the most plays with multiple tight ends on the field (1,549), while the Steelers ran only 844 plays with multiple tight ends, ranking 22nd. The Steelers have Pat Freiermuth and 2023 draft pick Darnell Washington on the roster, and though Smith was inconsistent in using 2021 first-round tight end Kyle Pitts after his 1,000-yard rookie season, Smith’s scheme could help each Steelers tight end get involved more.
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One area that isn’t quite as clear is Smith’s impact on the quarterback — something Tomlin previously said was a “significant” component in the coordinator search.
“This game is quarterback-driven, offenses are quarterback-driven,” Tomlin said, “and so their expertise in that area is a significant component of the search from my perspective.”
Prior to taking over in Atlanta, Smith oversaw two of quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s best seasons. Not only did the Titans make the AFC Championship Game in 2019, eventually losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, but Tannehill earned his lone Pro Bowl nod with a career-best 9.6 yards per attempt and 13.6 yards per completion. With weapons like wide receiver A.J. Brown and tight end Jonnu Smith, Tannehill threw for 55 touchdowns to 13 touchdowns in the two-year period under Smith and was part of an offense that averaged 26.4 points per game and 379.9 yards per game, good for sixth and seventh in the league, respectively. The Titans’ 6.1 yards per play average in those two seasons also ranked second behind the Chiefs’ 6.3.
Henry similarly flourished in that stretch with his best two seasons, rushing for 1,540 and 2,027 yards, respectively, and earning the AP Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2020.
Though Smith re-created some of that success on the ground in Atlanta, he didn’t have the same luck with his quarterbacks. After moving on from Matt Ryan following the 2021 season, the Falcons drafted Desmond Ridder two rounds after the Steelers selected Kenny Pickett. Ridder, who wound up starting four games as a rookie when he replaced Marcus Mariota, had a disappointing second season, and he was benched twice for Taylor Heinicke in the midst of a 17-interception 2023 season. Wide receiver Drake London also didn’t take a step forward in his second season, catching just 69 passes for 905 yards with two touchdowns after 72 receptions for 866 yards and four touchdowns as a rookie.
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Among the top priorities of the next offensive staff is getting the most out of Pickett and using difference-making talent in the passing game such as wide receiver George Pickens. Smith didn’t do much in Atlanta to suggest he’s a quarterback whisperer, but the Steelers still have a handful of options. They could elect to bring in a strong position coach capable of developing Pickett, someone like Johnson, who they interviewed for the offensive coordinator position and is a big part of C.J. Stroud’s success, or they could opt to bring in Tannehill as a short-term fix at the position. Tannehill is a free agent, and with his success in Smith’s system, could elevate the Steelers’ offense while Pickett develops. The Steelers, though, have also expressed a desire to bring Mason Rudolph back into the fold after he showcased an ability to elevate the offense in the final four games of the season.
With the organization anxious to get its first playoff win since 2016, the Smith hire is one of Tomlin’s most pivotal moves in his 17-season tenure. The Steelers have a championship-caliber defense, and they have talented pieces on the offense. It’s up to Smith to bring them together and elevate the quarterback play in a way that his predecessor couldn’t.
“I do feel that we’re closer this year at this stage of the game than we were at this point last year,” Rooney said. “I think we have a core group of players that we can compete with. I think the biggest thing we need is quality play at the quarterback position.”
