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. One among 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) talents, which is a vital factor for the place, contemplating that many are focused near the road of scrimmage. That is positively 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 instance yards after catch for extremely focused tight ends in 2024 (min. 70 targets):
Jonnu Smith jumps out on the best high 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 for my part.
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 arms. That is very thrilling, and it makes it extra affordable to anticipate that Smith can convey that to Pittsburgh, which has had points through the years getting YAC from their playmakers.
Encouragingly, the Steelers made strides in yards after catch in Arthur Smith’s first yr with the staff 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 below 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 damage), 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. Actually, 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 doubtless see much less particular person quantity than they did final yr. That bodes properly for what we now learn about Smith, who has been a powerful 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 info makes for a snug confidence that it’s going to look comparable within the Black and Gold. Prepare.
