With a complete offensive rehaul for the Pittsburgh Steelers came a completely revamped quarterback room and wide receiver room. In addition to that, Arthur Smith became the offensive coordinator as Matt Canada's replacement.
A new offensive coordinator means a new offensive scheme for the Steelers, who need a change after finishing 23rd in team yards per game. With the fewest points scored since the 2019 season, a complete change was necessary.
According to the Steelers top wideout George Pickens, the scheme is set to work to his strengths much more than Canada's did.
"The scheme of it is great. I'd probably say a lot of the schemed deep balls", Pickens said, speaking to reporters. "You guys remember all last year I was running only 'go, so I was running deep balls last year too. But scheme-wise, I feel like it's a way better scheme, vertically".
The schemes ran by Arthur Smith and the Falcons in 2023 featured a run-heavy mix, with 44% of offensive plays being run plays.
Now that Smith has moved to a team with a deep-ball threat in George Pickens, it seems as if he is more willing to be aggressive on the passing end. According to Joe Clark of Steelers Nation and Matt Bowen of ESPN, George Pickens had the highest rate of vertical route runs in 2023 at 44.9%.
Smith will have him continue to be vertical a significant amount of the time, but it seems that Pickens believes it will be more intentional and better schemed to fit his strengths.
Pickens abilities will be put to the test, as myriad attempts to land a wide receiver in the offseason have all fallen short and the departure of Diontae Johnson left the wide receiver room quite weak.
