Tim Benz: Sorry, Mason Rudolph. It appears it’s Kenny Pickett’s show, based on Arthur Smith’s 1st interview as OC
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Arthur Smith’s first interview as Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator was conducted by Missi Matthews of Steelers.com. It was posted Saturday on the team’s website.
It was a wide-ranging sitdown. Topics bounced around from Smith’s upbringing in a house with 10 kids, his climb up the coaching ladder, his offensive philosophy and why he decided to take the OC job in Pittsburgh.
“It’s such a unique opportunity to be able to work for an organization like the Pittsburgh Steelers with the history, the culture here and the opportunity to work with (head coach) Mike Tomlin. To me, it’s a perfect cultural fit,” Smith said.
There was also lots of discussion about Kenny Pickett.
“It’s exciting to hear the way that this offense is built with a lot of young players and obviously, where Kenny Pickett is at going into his third year,” Smith said. “Playing with a young quarterback — being efficient, being able to get the ball out and making the smart decisions, getting the ball in the playmakers’ hands and taking care of the football. A lot of things that come up, the responsibility of playing quarterback in the National Football League, there’s pressure situations. They happen all game. Having command of those situations and ultimately putting the ball in the end zone, whether that’s through the air, handing it off or running it in, there’s a lot on him. There’s a natural evolution that happens with the quarterback.”
Smith wasn’t done extolling the prospect of how he and Pickett could work together.
“There’s a relationship that’s got to be built between me and Kenny,” Smith said. “And that’s so paramount between the play caller and the quarterback. The quarterback is obviously the one out there between the white lines, and there’s a trust that’s going to be built daily, and it goes both ways. I’ve got to earn Kenny’s trust and vice versa as we build this offense and all the things we want to work on, and we want him to work on and take command of this offense.”
Wonderful.
Here are two words that didn’t come up in the interview, though: “Mason” and “Rudolph.”
Nope. The quarterback who pulled the Steelers back from the brink of playoff elimination after an early December collapse wasn’t mentioned in seven minutes and 38 seconds of the interview.
But Pickett was. At length.
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If Smith was asked a question about Rudolph, it wasn’t included. And if Smith did bother to bring up Rudolph at all on his own, those quotes didn’t make the final edit.
Either Rudolph isn’t top of mind within the building, or the team intentionally doesn’t want him to be on the minds of their fans as he approaches free agency.
All the more reason for Rudolph to default to my suggested fallback stance when it comes to any negotiations he might have with the Steelers: All things being equal, they aren’t.
Despite Tomlin’s suggestion to the contrary, there won’t be an open competition for Rudolph this offseason, just like there wasn’t for him in the summer of 2022 against Mitch Trubisky and Pickett. If Rudolph stays, he’ll never have a shot at beating out Pickett.
So if it comes down to a 50-50 choice between Pittsburgh and elsewhere to have a legit chance at starting, I suggest to Rudolph that he choose “elsewhere.”
Now, to be fair, no other offensive players in the entire interview were mentioned either. Just good ol’ Kenny. Not Najee Harris or George Pickens or Pat Freiermuth.
Then again, does anyone else need to be? Of the other 10 offensive starters, eight of them are basically locked in on the depth chart. Three of the five offensive linemen (Isaac Seumalo, James Daniels and Broderick Jones) are set. Freiermuth, Pickens and Diontae Johnson are going to be the starters at tight end and receiver. Harris (with a healthy dose of Jaylen Warren) will be the running back.
Yet building a relationship with Pickett is the only player interaction directly discussed in the piece.
During his season-ending press conference, Tomlin was asked if Pickett would be resuming his “QB1 status.” Tomlin answered in the affirmative, adding, “There will be competition.”
But based on how Smith spoke about Pickett, it sure sounds like there is a presumption that Pickett will be the Week 1 starter regardless of where that alleged competition is going to originate.
And if Rudolph is in the plans to be the source of that competition, the Steelers so far have a funny way of showing it.