{"id":769152,"date":"2026-02-22T15:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/769152\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:10:16","slug":"jonnu-smith-mightve-had-the-worst-season-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/769152\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonnu Smith Might’ve Had The Worst Season Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh\u2019s trade for tight end Jonnu Smith last June was met with promise.<\/a> He was reuniting with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, catching passes from Aaron Rodgers. Smith was coming off a career year that resulted in his first Pro Bowl. The stars had aligned.<\/p>\n

Instead, Smith\u2019s season was not just poor, but historically bad. He finished the year with 38 receptions for 222 yards and two touchdowns. While he received the occasional carry, his mark as a receiver was so pitiful that it\u2019s worth discussing.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s count the ways Smith\u2019s season reset the records for how inefficient a year could be.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Smith included, in NFL history, there have been 36 players to catch at least 35 passes for 225 or fewer yards. Smith is the only one who wasn\u2019t a running back\/fullback. He was one of four players to do so this year, joining running backs TreVeyon Henderson, Javonte Williams, and Rachaad White.<\/p>\n

\u2013 In NFL history, only three other players have caught 35-plus passes for 250 or fewer yards: WR Eddie Royal in 2015 (238), TE Steve Heiden in 2006 (249), and TE Alex Smith in 2006 (25).<\/p>\n

\u2013 The most astounding stat was Smith\u2019s poor yards per reception. He had just 5.8 yards per grab. Of the 121 players in 2025 with at least 35 catches, Smith\u2019s YPR ranked 119th. Only Javonte Williams and Rachaad White were lower. Both are running backs.<\/p>\n

Per Pro Football Reference\u2019s tracking, Smith is the first tight end in history to catch at least 35 passes and fail to reach even 6 yards per reception.<\/p>\n

\u2013 It\u2019s one reason why Smith caught just 10 first downs all year, a horribly low rate. Of non-running backs with at least 35 receptions since 2010, only two others have moved the chains 10 or fewer times. Only Royal\u2019s aforementioned 2015 season, nine first downs on 37 catches, matches.<\/p>\n

From October 17th onward, Week 8 through the rest of the season, Smith recorded just three first downs. Over that span, he logged 325 offensive snaps. That\u2019s one first down for every 108.3 snaps.<\/p>\n

\u2013 One reason why Smith struggled to move the marker was how shallow his average catch was. Aaron Rodgers\u2019 quick release brought his numbers down, but Smith\u2019s was far worse than any other Steelers\u2019 tight end. His 4.3 average depth of target (ADOT) was a career low. Of the 107 non-running backs with at least 50 targets last season, Smith\u2019s ADOT ranked 105th. He only sat ahead of receivers Rashee Rice (and they were technically tied at 4.3) and Khalil Shakir.<\/p>\n

Comparatively, Freiermuth ranked low but clearly better in 91st place with a 6.0 ADOT.<\/a> Darnell Washington didn\u2019t have enough targets to qualify, but his ADOT was more than a full yard better at 5.4.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Smith averaged 1.1 yards per catch before contact. Of the 100 non-running backs to catch 35-plus passes last year, Smith\u2019s 1.1 YBC ranked dead last.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Finally, of Smith\u2019s 38 receptions, only one gained more than 12 yards, a 21-yard reception in Week 3 against the New England Patriots. Only two receptions went for more than 10, while only six of his 38, 15.8 percent, picked up double-digits.<\/p>\n

Any one stat would be bad enough. Combine them all, and it\u2019s one of the worst seasons any tight end has had in NFL history. It\u2019s clear he\u2019s going to be cut before the new league year, and I don\u2019t mean to pile on. Everyone knows how bad it was. But when it\u2019s this\u00a0ugly, it\u2019s worth dedicated examination.<\/p>\n

Is that\u00a0all\u00a0his fault? No. Aaron Rodgers missed a couple of chances. But the two had zero chemistry. They were truly two guys never on the same page, and the fit was a wreck. Smith\u2019s season was historically bad and made all the worse by how much it froze out Pat Freiermuth, a far more effective receiver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh\u2019s trade for tight end Jonnu Smith last June was met with promise. He was reuniting with offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,7,7470,6,520,57,2360,426,691],"class_list":{"0":"post-769152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jonnu-smith","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-trending"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116114923480333713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}