Steelers GM Omar Khan speaks

Gilbride won 2 SBs as Giants OC

 

He played 7 years in college and never had one really great season. He had some OK ones so it was quite a surprise to see him drafted 4 rounds ahead of Will Howard and 5 rounds before Ewers.

 

I'm less concerned about Kahn's spin on the Pickens drama than I am about some of Arthur Smith's comments during the draft.

"We want explosives," Smith said. "You’re not just plodding, not just 2, 3, 4 yards (with) multiple third-and-2’s and third-and-3. You’d like to get those chunk plays."

https://www.steelernation.com/2025/05/05/steelers-arthur-smith-unexpected-najee-harris

So the offensive coordinator who is responsible for play calling, game planning, the playbook, and personnel development and playing time doesn't like 3rd and 2 or 3rd and 3. These are make able downs and any high school football coach can make a 1st down on 3rd and 2. Tom Brady is going to the hall of fame based on a large part because he consistently moved the chains on 3 and 2. Remember the Jag a few years ago where they acknowledged that Bortles was never going to be Brady/Rodgers and gave him high percentage plays with low risk. They ran the ball and on 3 and 2 they did a low risk pass. It really concerns me that he is looking for big 60 yard TD runs instead of understanding his players and their strengths. If his attitude really is he wants explosive plays and not manageable down and distance he needs to move on.

Heck couple that with Tomlin's expressed desire to avoid costly turnovers in the middle of the field by passing to that area and they are lucky to move the ball at all.

Kahn can spin the narrative however he likes but if Smith isn't the right guy then it won't make a difference.

 

Even with Ben he would look off the easy completion to force it downfield in a low percentage play. However the guys they have had could have been more effective had Tomlin worked to understand their limitations and worked to put them in a better position to win. Take Landry Jones and Mason Rudolph for example. They both came from an established spread offense where they had limited exposure to playing under center and more effective in shotgun. Instead of working to that strength and letting them get more comfortable with a Pro style offense the Steelers opted for "not seeking to reinvent the wheel" and their success record shows how bad an idea that was.

Smith's comments about Harris though are troubling because Harris was durable, available, and putting them in position for manageable down and distance. I think you and others have sufficiently covered why Harris wasn't kept so I won't touch that topic but Smith's comments just make no sense. You want explosiveness fine but it's like cutting off your own perfectly good legs because you believe you can grow new Olympic winning legs that's just crazy.

Maybe I'm just being overly critical because I have always been a ground and pound guy.

 

True, but to be fair, that reminds me that I kind of miss having a head coach with an actual, observable coaching tree.

 

Smith is not that wrong on Harris

For the rushing success rate(A play is a success if the offense gets the following fraction of yards towards the next first down: 50% on 1st down. 70% on 2nd down. 100% on 3rd, 4th down.)Harris was at only at 43% in 2024,bottom 5 among RB in the NFL.He was below average in 2021,bottom 10 in 2022 and average in 2023

 

I don't think it matters. What matters to me is how many of the branches are actually successful. Bill Belichick has one of the biggest coaching trees in the world. How many of them have done anything after they left, also Bruce Arians is from Tomlin coaching tree, and before you say we'll he was here, and there, almost all coach have been here, and there.....many, many, many coach's that are so called from a coaching tree, have actually started elsewhere.

 

I think we'd get too far into the weeds looking at contributing factors. I dont like the blocking scheme, dont like the teaching of the blocking scheme, it's execution, Harris not being given a lot of time to build up momentum, his sort of tentative nature but most of all the play calling. Smith is basically saying they need a home run hitter because it will fix everything.

 

Every time I read the thread title I think of E F Hutton

 

When he speaks, people listen.

 

Welp, considering that the Steelers average yards to go on 3rd down last season was 7.4 yards I think Smith would welcome 3rd and 2 or 3.

 

Click

 

I didn't get it till you said it but it's perfect and funny.

 

And Jaylen Warren was better in this regard and actually increased slightly in 2024 while Harris declined

 

Are you still sticking with this prognostication

 

This didn’t age well

 

Win a championship this year, huh. Well, I guess all the top teams could lose their QB`s to season ending injuries.

 

Well, the addition of Smith certainly helps.... WR wise, I still say yes. DK and Pickens are pretty much a push. Last year we had Jefferson as the #2 to start the year, but Austin pretty much became the #2. That will stay the same (though I expect Austin to have a slightly better year since he will be more involved in the offense for the whole year and not just part of it). Roman Wilson is a complete unknown. I hope he is better... but that is a guess either way.

I think DK/Austin/Wilson/Woods is probably the same or worse than Pickens/Austin/Jefferson/Williams.... Now, I think DK/Austin/Muth/Smith/Wilson is better than Pickens/Austin/Muth/Washington/Jefferson. That doesn't even factor in how much better the backfield is going to look with Warren/Johnson instead of Harris/Warren. Weapons as a whole are a good bit better in 2025. The QB should be a good bit better than Russ was, especially when the games really mattered (I still am pissed we didn't let Fields have the year just to see what we had). WR's specifically look a tad worse than last year on paper, but Wilson and Austin having a break out year can change that.