Insider Says Steelers Players Absolutely Love Arthur Smith

After a tumultuous two-and-a-half year tenure with Matt Canada as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator, a new era of Arthur Smith as the OC has players rather optimistic about the future. Multiple players were unhappy with Canada last season, and that played a big role in him being fired after the Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

“What I hear coming out of the Steelers is that players absolutely love Arthur Smith’s offense,” Mark Kaboly of The Athletic wrote on X. ” One told me that it is unreal. Going to be interesting to put eyes on it. First day of OTAs start on Tuesday. The Steelers will be on the field for practices for the next 4 weeks.”

The Steelers will have a new run scheme under Smith, and it’s expected that they’ll be a run-heavy team. That’s been Smith’s calling card throughout his career as the head coach in Atlanta and the OC with the Tennessee Titans. Smith runs mostly wide zone, but he could implement gap scheme runs that the Steelers often utilized under Canada. How Najee Harris fits in Smith’s offense will be something to watch for. That factor reportedly played a big role in why the Steelers didn’t place the fifth-year option on Harris.

Last season with the Atlanta, Smith used 3+ wide receivers just 18% of the time, which was by far the lowest percentage in the NFL, according to Warren Sharp of Sharp Football.

Last year, the Steelers had 71 percent of their snaps come with three wide receivers on the field, the 10th- highest in the entire NFL. With the wide receiver room lacking depth this season, it would not be a surprise to see that once again.

On the surface, Smith is a massive upgrade from Canada. He at least has a track record of being a successful offensive coordinator in the NFL. Things didn’t go smooth for Smith as a head coach in Atlanta, but what he did with Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry in Tennessee can’t be discounted.