Pittsburgh is mixing it up.
The Pittsburgh Steelers showed a look in training camp on Thursday that is almost never seen anywhere in football.
Call it the 04 formation.
Those numbers signify running backs and tight ends on the field. Usually, there's 11 or 21 or 12.
But 04? Yep, that's no backs and four tight ends.
The Steelers did it by putting versatile TE Jonnu Smith in the backfield.
Pittsburgh ran a toss play for Smith out of the formation, per PennLive's Nick Farabaugh.
Smith is the big offseason pickup on offense not named Aaron Rodgers or DK Metcalf. He's explosive and can line up all over the formation, so it makes sense that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith would want to try this (after already coaching Smith before).
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To make it work, Pittsburgh needs to use its big-bodied tight ends as blockers (and potential pass catchers).
Out there on the line at camp were Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington and Connor Heyward.
Smith's acquisition did really throw off the vibe in the Pittsburgh tight end room, though. Freiermuth was the unquestioned TE1. Washington was the promising youngster. Heyward was the decent veteran who was happy to do the dirty work.
Now that Smith is around, all those roles are thrown into flux.
It's a good problem to have for Pittsburgh. You'd rather have more good players than not.
But the Steelers still have some stuff to figure out, and it's clear that they've had a hectic offseason, so we'll let them be as they work things out for us.
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Category: Football
