**Buy or Sell: The Jonnu Smith trade will knock Connor Heyward off the Steelers’ roster.**
**Explanation:** _The Steelers have, arguably, their strongest tight end trio in team history, though not without competition. After adding Jonnu Smith to Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, they can rival any tight end room in the league. No one player is an All-Pro, but each is a high-level contributor. Except for Connor Heyward, who may have almost no offensive role this year._
**Buy:**
With Jonnu Smith joining an already strong Steelers tight end duo, Connor Heyward has no meaningful role with the offense. Yes, he plays special teams, but so do a bunch of other guys. If they want to keep him just for special teams, then we can have the discussion about keeping Mark Robinson.
Heyward has played a lot of special teams snaps, but the Steelers just drafted a lot of potential special teams contributors. Between Jack Sawyer, Carson Bruener, and Donte Kent, they have the means to make up for any lost snaps.
Yes, the Steelers often carry four tight ends, but Jonnu Smith also makes Connor Heyward redundant. Smith can also line up out wide or in the backfield, so his skill set is no longer unique. Arthur Smith greatly scaled back his playing time last year, and this year, it will be even worse. Once they work out how to redistribute his special teams snaps, they’ll find they don’t need a spot for him. At least not on the 53-man roster; there will be room on the practice squad.
**Sell:**
Connor Heyward has always been with the Steelers, from the very beginning, to play special teams. If the Jonnu Smith trade has any impact on him, it may prompt a switch to fullback. But even then, he already plays fullback—he would just do it more.
The Steelers almost always keep at least seven combined running backs and tight ends. Really, it comes down to what they want to do with Cordarrelle Patterson, who is primarily a kick returner anyway. The Steelers really value what Heyward brings on special teams, and it’s not like he couldn’t contribute on offense if they actually used him. Let’s not forget, Arthur Smith loves tight ends _and_ fullbacks, so of course his roster will have four. Like it did last year.
_The Steelers are building toward the 2025 season, following yet another disappointing year. While they reached the playoffs, they once again lost decisively in the first round. They are facing questions, both publicly, and perhaps privately as well._ [_Questions about The Standard_](https://steelersdepot.com/2024/01/mike-tomlin-reiterates-the-standard-for-2024-in-no-uncertain-terms-we-want-to-be-world-champions/), and what the Steelers stand for_._
_The rookie class of a year ago was successful, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2025. And they need everyone healthy to do it, not an insignificant consideration. They needed a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in_ [_the 2025 NFL draft_](https://www.nfl.com/draft/event-info/) _yet again._
_These sorts of uncertainties are what we will address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, we will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false)._