The Steelers turned out with Jonnu Smith after a search for a playmaker, but is he the team’s second receiver? “Receiver” doesn’t, of course, have to mean “wide receiver”, but rather one who catches passes. While we may understand that definition, that doesn’t make it Smith’s role for the Steelers.
He does have the recent background for it, though. Last season with the Dolphins, he caught 88 passes for 884 yards and eight touchdowns. Those are better numbers than basically anybody with the Steelers put up last year in Arthur Smith’s debut season. In fact, nobody in Pittsburgh has produced at least eight receiving touchdowns since Diontae Johnson in 2021.
It’s enough to convince at least analyst Mike DeCourcy that Jonnu Smith is, in fact, the Steelers’ No. 2 receiver. But the Dolphins also fed him 111 targets last year, which may be hard to duplicate in Pittsburgh. It’s also something of an outlier compared to the rest of his career.
“I would expect it would be Jonnu Smith”, DeCourcy said on the #1 Cochran Sports Showdown about the Steelers’ second receiver. “The guy caught 88 passes last year; that’s a ton. Tight end, wide receiver, anybody: that’s a lot of passes. When people say they don’t have a No. 2 receiver, my immediate reaction is, ‘Yeah, they do. He just happens to play tight end’”.
Of course, Jonnu Smith isn’t the only tight end the Steelers have. In fact, they have a pretty good one in Pat Freiermuth, who actually put up similar numbers as Smith last season relative to targets. Freiermuth saw way fewer targets, which is probably an indication of how the Steelers will use Smith. After all, they’re already paying Freiermuth a seven-figure salary, so why would they use Smith more?
“I think that Freiermuth will have to remain more of a conventional tight end. They’ll still split him out a little bit in certain situations”, DeCourcy speculated about the Steelers’ plans, “but Jonnu, I think, will get a lot of opportunities where he’s basically split out. Obviously, not all the way out to the sideline, but out in the flank where he can get out and get some space”.
Jonnu Smith’s ability to produce yards after the catch obviously attracted the Steelers to him. And it’s true that he and Freiermuth are not mirror images of each other, and will see varied usage. They are not wholly redundant by any means—but there are only so many passing plays and just one football.
If the Steelers don’t use Jonnu Smith as their second target, then, who will it be? Freiermuth saw under 80 targets last year, but can Calvin Austin III or Roman Wilson step into that spotlight? Wilson is a 2024 third-round pick who hardly played last year due to injuries. It’s a nice thought for now but doesn’t amount to much until there is some evidence. And Smith has produced in Arthur Smith offenses before and can do so now with the Steelers.
