The Pittsburgh Steelers are getting set to enter the summer with questions at the wide receiver position. After trading for DK Metcalf, general manager Omar Khan sent George Pickens packing to the Dallas Cowboys. Now, more wide receiver help is needed... which is exactly why their latest reported trade interest is hard to make sense of.
On Thursday, ESPN Insider Adam Schefter reported that the Steelers have been in talks with the Miami Dolphins for a trade involving Jonnu Smith. The veteran tight end is coming off the best season of his NFL career, which included 88 receptions, 884 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns.
But a tight end? Really?
Last offseason, the Steelers gave Pat Freiermuth a four-year, $48.4 million contract. A year earlier, Pittsburgh spent its third-round pick on Georgia's Darnell Washington. In terms of skill sets, these two tight ends complement each other perfectly, with Freiermuth working as the 'F' tight end and Washington as the 'Y'.
While there are questions about the TE3 role on the Steelers, adding a Pro Bowler like Smith wasn't what anyone had on the agenda. If these two teams pull the trigger on a trade, this could backfire on Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Steelers should avoid a trade for TE Jonnu Smith
The Steelers' interest in acquiring Jonnu Smith raises more questions than answers. If they execute a trade for the Dolphins' lone Pro Bowler, what role does Pat Freiermuth play on the team? What about Darnell Washington, who excels as an in-line blocker?
Somebody is seeing a reduced role, and at the cost the Steelers would be forced to pay, is it worth it?
Smith is a good player and an excellent receiving tight end, but that type of production doesn't come without a quarterback and an offense that is willing to put the ball into the hands of the tight end often.
We can easily draw a connection between Jonnu Smith and Arthur Smith. The Steelers' offensive coordinator called plays for the Titans when Smith was a starting tight end in Tennessee a few years later; these two spent the 2023 season together in Atlanta. Jonnu is an Arthur Smith guy through and through.
But, interestingly, Smith never had great production working with his former play-caller. Despite the year together, his best season included 50 receptions for 582 yards and three touchdowns—production that Freiermuth is guaranteed to give this team if he can stay healthy.
The Dolphins gave Smith 111 targets last year. With these opportunities, he averaged 10.0 yards per reception and 8.0 yards per target. In comparison, Freiermuth averaged 10.0 yards per reception and 8.4 yards per target last season while recording at least 60 receptions in three of his first four NFL seasons. I'm not denying Smith would be an upgrade over Freiermuth in the receiving game, but if Pat was given the same number of looks on offense, he would put up similar numbers.
But this is just the first part of what makes this so head-scratching.
Because Jonnu Smith is coming off a Pro Bowl season and is entering the last year of his deal, the Steelers will need to turn around and hand him a contract extension. So now we are talking about forking up a lofty contract and shipping valuable draft capital to Miami for a player you hope will be a slight upgrade over the pair of tight ends already on the Steelers' roster.
On top of all of this, Smith will turn 30 years old before the start of the 2025 season. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh will be looking ahead to the future and is likely to draft a quarterback in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Is Jonnu really a player you want to build around at this stage of his career, going into his ninth NFL season?
At the end of the day, I simply have a hard time wrapping my head around the logic that Omar Khan is using here. Jonnu Smith would make the Steelers' offense slightly better, but it wouldn't solve their wide receiver woes, and they would be forced to eat into next year's draft capital that should be used to go up and get a quarterback. Pittsburgh should avoid this trade with the Dolphins.