Why Steelers will use more wide receivers and less tight ends in 2019

Steelers OC Randy Fichtner recently made some comments about playing time this year. Here is why Pittsburgh will use more receivers in 2019.

It’s been a popular prediction this year that the Pittsburgh Steelers may try to use more wide receivers and less tight ends in 2019. After all, they did lose Jesse James this offseason, and the Steelers are six-deep at the receiver position.

Randy Fichtner recently shed some light on why this is more than just a prediction, but why this indeed will be the case.

Though he didn’t come right out and say ‘the Steelers will use more receivers and less tight ends,’ we can connect the dots with his comments regarding Vance McDonald.

According to Dale Lolley of DK Pittsburgh Sports, Fichtner had the following to say regarding whether or not McDonald would see many more snaps in 2019:

"“He still won’t. He’s never going to play the full game. That’s never going to happen.”"

Many expected a significant uptick in snaps this year for Vance McDonald with Jesse James out of the fold. However, if Fichtner’s early indications are correct, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

McDonald played just 50.54 percent of the snaps in 2018 compared to Jesse James’ 50.36 percent. Though Xavier Grimble will see a noticeable increase in playing time, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he sees the field as often as James did in 2018 (barring injury to McDonald, of course).

This means that the Steelers are almost sure to use more 3 and 4 wide receiver sets in 2019. Lining up in 11 personnel might be the way to go for Pittsburgh. They will look to get their best players on the field, and they may deem it more valuable for a player like James Washington, Diontae Johnson, Ryan Switzer, or Eli Rogers to be on the field rather than Xavier Grimble.

While the Steelers are deep at the wide receiver position, they are razor-thin at tight end. Grimble turns 27 in September but has just 6 NFL starts under his belt. Zach Gentry will likely be the recipient of the 3rd tight end spot, but he won’t be ready to see the field early on.

We don’t know exactly how the Steelers will look to deploy their skill players this year, but Fichtner has made it abundantly clear that he wants to preserve Vance McDonald’s body. I think this means the Steelers will look to use more receivers and less tight ends in 2019.