Player: TE Jonnu Smith
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: Whether it’s usage, skill, or a combination of both, Jonnu Smith has really disappointed with the Steelers this season. Acquired via trade, essentially for a fifth-round pick, the 2024 Pro Bowl tight end has played like anything but one. Despite a fair amount of targets, he is not producing, missing opportunities, and even injuring teammates.
Eleven games into the 2025 season, it’s hard to see how Jonnu Smith looks better than a 2026 fifth-round pick. That’s what the Steelers gave up, essentially, to acquire him via trade. While he has scored two touchdowns, he hasn’t offered much else. Indeed, discounting Connor Heyward, he is at the bottom of the tight end room.
And, mind you, Jonnu Smith was a Pro Bowl tight end, just last season, for his receiving prowess. With the Dolphins in 2024, he caught 88 passes for 884 yards and 8 touchdowns. With six games remaining in the 2025 season, he is coming nowhere near those marks. Thus far, he has 29 catches on 41 targets for a paltry 189 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Now, Smith isn’t getting the targets that he saw in Miami, but he also isn’t producing on a per-target basis. In fact, he is managing just 6.3 yards per catch, which would be good—if he were a running back, running the ball. Incredibly, he has just eight first downs on his 29 receptions, which seems hard to do.
As I said above, it’s not all on Jonnu Smith. The Steelers haven’t exactly exploited his skill set, peppering him with short throws with little room to run. Virtually everybody else has manage to YAC it up, but not him, for the most part. And that was supposed to be one of his strengths, but he has had few quality opportunities. And there have been times when Aaron Rodgers has just missed him.
Still, something has to fall on Smith for this meager production. They are paying him way too much to put up third-string running back numbers. Especially since it’s not like either Darnell Washington or Pat Freiermuth are having Pro Bowl years.
With regular season underway and the roster in place, it’s once again time to “take stock”. It took a while, but we finally saw some of thatchange the team talked about after the season ended. Certainly, the move to trade for WR DK Metcalf qualifies as a change, not to mention the accompanying contract. Oh, and they also traded some guy named George Pickens, which people found significant.
After a long offseason, we finally know what this Steelers team will look like for the 2025 season. The dust is long settled on both free agency andthe 2025 NFL Draft, and now we’re into the real thing . What final moves might the team make, if any? They’ve certainly made a flurry of moves, though some question whether they make much difference. This is a Steelers team starving for postseason success, but how desperate are they for a playoff win in 2025?
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