Examine: TE Jonnu Smith Brings YAC Assault To Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t sitting on their laurels this offseason. They’ve made a number of uncharacteristic and aggressive strikes in hopes of a stronger 2025. Certainly one of them was a current commerce that included the acquisition of TE Jonnu Smith.

An thrilling factor to his 2024 Professional Bowl season was his yards after catch (YAC) skills, which is a vital factor for the place, contemplating that many are focused near the road of scrimmage. That is undoubtedly the case for the Steelers and OC Arthur Smith, seeing the place utilized on this method usually final season.

Here’s a visible as an example yards after catch for extremely focused tight ends in 2024 (min. 70 targets):

Jonnu Smith jumps out on the best prime proper of the chart, offering a third-ranked 5.9 yards after catch out of the 16 qualifying tight ends. Solely two TEs posted higher YAC: 49er George Kittle (6.6) and Dalton Kincaid (6.5). They had been definitely spectacular, however seeing Smith’s bigger quantity of 109 targets (fourth most) makes his outcomes much more spectacular in my view.

Extra particularly, Smith had one of the best YAC of gamers with 100-plus targets, which emphasizes the consistency he displayed with the ball in his palms. That is very thrilling, and it makes it extra cheap to anticipate that Smith can carry that to Pittsburgh, which has had points over time getting YAC from their playmakers.

Encouragingly, the Steelers made strides in yards after catch in Arthur Smith’s first 12 months with the crew in 2024. Now Jonnu Smith reunites with a coach for a lot of his profession, which, on paper, is one more reason to moderately anticipate extra of the identical.

For context, listed here are Jonnu Smith’s YAC and targets per season for his profession, with stars indicating which got here with Arthur Smith:

2024 (Dolphins): 5.9, 109 targets
*2023 (Atlanta): 7.3, 69 targets
2022 (New England): 7.5 37 targets
2021 (New England): 8.5 43 targets
*2020 (Tennessee): 5.8, 63 targets
*2019 (Tennessee): 8.1, 44 targets
*2018 (Tennessee): 9.2, 29 targets
*2017 (Tennessee): 5.8, 28 targets

He has a really good resume, with 5 of eight seasons that includes a plus-7.0 YAC quantity. So, he offered even higher high quality over amount for almost all of his profession. That appears more likely to be how issues will play out within the Metal Metropolis in 2025 (barring harm), contemplating his confirmed success, together with together with his present coach, who loves stocking his tight finish rooms.

Jonnu Smith joins Pat Freiermuth, who was additionally one of many 16 tight ends with 70-plus targets in 2024. The latter’s 4.3 YAC in 2024 was lower than Smith has ever had. The truth is, Freiermuth has by no means eclipsed a 5.0 yards after catch common in his profession:

2024: 4.3
2023: 4.8
2022: 4.6
2021: 4.2

Whereas Freiermuth is a talented piece of the offense, what a staggering YAC distinction between the 2 tight ends. It will likely be attention-grabbing to see how their targets are impacted; they may probably see much less particular person quantity than they did final 12 months. That bodes effectively for what we now find out about Smith, who has been a formidable YAC playmaker, notably in much less focused seasons.

Smith’s YAC seems to be a lacking piece of the Steelers’ offensive puzzle that must be higher in 2025, and the information makes for a cushty confidence that it’ll look related within the Black and Gold. Prepare.