Bringing in Darnell Washington via the draft created ripples across the Steelers' offense as a whole.
As it has been mentioned ad nauseam through this medium, the primarily blocking tight end gives Kenny Pickett a new weapon to throw to, Najee Harris a hyper-athletic blocker in space, and Zach Gentry some competition for reps behind Pat Freiermuth as the in-line tight end.
At a glance, though, it also left some thought to what Mike Tomlin and Matt Canada could do with Connor Heyward, who profiles much more differently than any of the Steelers' tight ends but still was able to earn more playing time than a typical sixth-round rookie last season.
While he was used sparingly within the offense in 2022, his expectation is to move around the offense and continue doing -- as he says -- "a lot of things."
“I feel like my role is kind of similar to last year," Heyward told me Tuesday, as the second week of Steelers OTAs began on the South Side. "Being able to do more stuff with other positions, and just being able to move around more. But, I don’t feel like my role and calling was ever to be blocking the biggest guy on the line, but (Washington) calls himself the extra offensive lineman.”
Heyward experienced his first true offseason as a pro, which enabled him to set up his own programs for conditioning, dieting, and for strength training. He had an offseason goal to shed about five to seven pounds and work on improving his agility in the process, and he felt he accomplished that.
He finished last season with 12 receptions on 15 targets for 151 yards and a touchdown. According to Pro Football Focus, quarterbacks held a 103.1 passer rating when targeting Heyward last season. He also had a drop, but his 12.6 yards per reception were good enough to help throw a wrinkle into the offense when necessary.
Things are sure to be different in 2023, as Heyward said he has worn more hats than just inside the tight ends room. With the addition of Washington and with the departure of Derek Watt at fullback, Heyward has an opportunity to make up for that loss while staying on the field.
Interestingly, as he notes, this is nothing new to him.
“Last year, I know, it was something they talked about but they didn’t want to put too much on me my rookie year, and this year I feel like it’s perfect," Heyward said. "Not that I didn’t know the offense last year, but rookie year, a lot of things are going through your head and you just want to be out there, comfortable. I understand, but this year I’m looking forward to being out there more and contributing to more than I did last year on offense.”
Watt's $2.75 million base salary from last season would rank seventh in the NFL among 2023 fullback salaries, according to data from Spotrac. The Steelers are not going totally into the season without a "true" fullback, as Monte Pottebaum was brought in as an undrafted rookie for just under $902,000. Essentially, the swap became Washington and Pottebaum in exchange for not retaining Watt, and Heyward is still there to take along some of the work as a fullback.
When explicitly asked where Heyward has been working out throughout these OTAs, he noted he has been "doing a lot of things" while specifically mentioning "running back, fullback, tight end, H-back," so there at least is a confirmed lack of hesitation on Heyward and Canada's part to give Heyward more opportunities to work into the offense by testing him outside of the tight ends room.
As a part of his transition to this gadget-guy type of role, Heyward compared what he can do as a hybrid between what former Pro Bowl tight end Delanie Walker did for the 49ers and Titans and what seven-time Pro Bowl fullback Kyle Juszczyk currently does for the 49ers.
“We’re almost like two different players," Heyward said of Juszczyk. "I think I’m versatile. He’s versatile, but I think I can do a little bit more. I can go line up at receiver. He’s more versatile in the backfield. He gets some passes but he’s a running back-fullback. I think I can be a tight end-receiver-running back-fullback, know what I’m saying? I think I can line up at anything. I can even do inline -- it’s not the best thing, but it’s something that I’ve done last year and something that I think when called upon I can do if I’m needed.”
Having a lead blocker for Harris, Jaylen Warren, and the rest of the running back corps is a pivotal part to the identity of the offense. The Steelers attempted rushing plays at a 45.1% rate last season, good for 13th in the NFL. That figure was substantially higher than the 36.6% of rushing plays run in 2021, which was second-to-last in the NFL.
The Steelers ran the football 51.7% of the time in their final three games of the regular season. In those games, Heyward played in 13, 12, and 25 offensive snaps, respectively. The 25 offensive snaps played in Week 18 against the Browns -- a game in which the Steelers ran it on 55.2% of the plays -- were the second-most played by Heyward to the 30 he played in Week 6 against the Buccaneers.
Heyward's admission of not being the best in-line tight end is a mature point to make for a second-year pro at 24 years old. So far, he has felt comfortable with the transition.
“It’s honestly pretty similar," Heyward said. "You see a lot of tight ends these days being able to play fullback. It’s just being able to know everything and just being where you’re supposed to be on a certain landmark and having your same shoulders -- it’s just different techniques. It’s like you’re almost like a pulling guard in some instances. You’ve just got to have -- obviously it’s a mindset and a wont-to and that outweighs technique a lot of times -- but you’ve got to have good technique, and that’s something that I’ve been working on and just looking forward to this year.”
