PITTSBURGH --Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith did not run his true offense during the 2024 season.
When talking about new running back Kaleb Johnson and how he fits into the equation, Smith admitted that he never ran his rushing offense last year with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren as the running backs.
Smith, who primarily ran an outside zone offense, pivoted more into inside zone and gap schemes than he ever had before in 2024.
“Yeah, I’ll pivot. Last year we didn’t run as much true outside zone,” Smith said. “That was due to some of the familiarity with some of the players we had. You try to adapt to the strengths of the players. You don’t want to be rigid. We ran a lot less wide zone, outside zone, whatever you want to call it, than I had the previous couple of years. I think Kaleb can do it at. He ran plenty of gap schemes at Iowa.You can change it up. Again, you don’t want to get stale, but he is a really good, whether you are talking wide zone or tight zone, runner.”
The stats showcase this, too, as Smith ran the fewest outside zones in his career as a play-caller in 2024. He ran outside zone a ton still by league metrics, coming in at sixth in the NFL in the usage of that run. Johnson, however, will fit into this scheme quite well, having run outside zone on 79 percent of his carries, according to Sports Info Solutions.
Johnson’s an explosive play threat that can hit the gas pedal in the open field. That part of his game drew the Steelers to him in the third round, where they nabbed him. Along with Warren, the Steelers should be able to return to becoming an outside zone first team in their rushing attack.