Is Connor Heyward one tight finish too many for the Steelers and Arthur Smith, if there may be such a factor? In idea, there may be room for him on the roster, if we simply go by final season. However with the energy of their prime trio now, there may be cause to query how sturdy his maintain on a roster spot is.
And that’s precisely what ESPN’s Brooke Pryor did just lately whereas showing on 93.7 The Fan. A part of the rationale, she says, is that new TE Jonnu Smith largely mirrors the flexibility we affiliate with Heyward. “I believe that Arthur Smith is in heaven proper now. That is an Arthur Smith transfer. I believe that he’s gonna be a Swiss Military knife kind of weapon”, she stated.
“He can perform a little little bit of every thing—in some methods do the issues that we’ve stated Connor Heyward might do when it comes to being a fullback, perhaps being a receiver, being an undersized tight finish”, Pryor continued. “I believe that that’s Jonnu Smith x 1,000. I believe that he has a a lot, a lot greater ceiling than Connor Heyward. And I’d be a little bit bit nervous if I have been in Connor Heyward’s sneakers proper now as a result of there’s solely so many roster spots”.
Final season, the Steelers did carry Heyward as certainly one of 4 tight ends on their 53-man roster. Since then, they didn’t retain one: MyCole Pruitt. Jonnu Smith provides them a core 4 once more, however he’s very totally different from Pruitt. Whereas Pruitt is the kind of participant who does some soiled work, Smith rose to Professional Bowl-receiving stage.
In his first season taking part in below Arthur Smith, Connor Heyward noticed his snaps drop in half. Whereas he performed some extra in 2023 as a consequence of Pat Freiermuth’s damage, he additionally earned extra snaps from MyCole Pruitt’s damage final 12 months.
After all, the place the Steelers actually worth Heyward is on particular groups. Final season, he logged 303 snaps in that space. He registered eight tackles and recovered a fumble on a punt return within the regular-season finale.
However we gained’t know if that’s adequate to retain his job till the Steelers type their roster out. In the event that they view his roster spot as one for particular groups, that opens all kinds of candidates. They drafted Connor Heyward for particular groups, however that applies to many. This 12 months, count on to see Jack Sawyer, Carson Bruener, and Donte Kent there, if all of them make it.
In earlier seasons, the Steelers had a theoretical function for Connor Heyward, however Pryor is correct. There isn’t actually something he can do this Jonnu Smith isn’t only a higher model of. In the event that they really feel comfy changing his special-teams snaps with different gamers, that opens the door to shifting on from him.
