{"id":793330,"date":"2026-03-05T08:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/793330\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T08:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T08:27:11","slug":"recently-released-steelers-tight-end-could-be-target-for-chargers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/793330\/","title":{"rendered":"Recently released Steelers tight end could be target for Chargers"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 4, 2026, 10:32 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

The Steelers released tight end Jonnu Smith on Wednesday, and he is already being linked to the Chargers<\/a> after formerly playing under Mike McDaniel.<\/p>\n

Under McDaniel, Smith recorded 88 catches for 884 yards with eight touchdowns in 2024 as a member of the Miami Dolphins<\/a>. He signed a two-year, $10 million contract in March 2024 and quickly became a key part of McDaniel’s offense.<\/p>\n

Despite his success during his inaugural season in Miami, Smith believed the Dolphins didn’t value him, and he was traded to the Steelers in June the following year.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t foresee this happening with how the season went for me individually,” Smith\u00a0said on retired Dolphins offensive tackle Terron Armstead\u2019s podcast<\/a>. “Obviously I had aspirations of ending my career in Miami, with it basically being home for me, my children, my family. But I understand the business side of it, and it didn’t work out. I’m grateful. I’ve got no ill feelings toward Miami and nobody in the organization.<\/p>\n

“I can’t sit here and lie and say it didn’t sting when the process was playing itself out.”<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, there’s a chance Smith could reunite with McDaniel in Los Angeles as both he and his former coach seek fresh starts in 2026.<\/p>\n

After a whirlwind 2024 season with the Dolphins, Smith’s play declined the following year with the Steelers. He recorded just 222 receiving yards and two touchdowns in his only season with Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Releasing the 30-year-old this spring saves the Steelers around $7 million in cap space. Perhaps the Chargers will take a chance on Smith after releasing Will Dissly to play alongside Oronde Gadsden II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 4, 2026, 10:32 p.m. PT The Steelers released tight end Jonnu Smith on Wednesday, and he is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[95878,217,7,216,251,2087,6,97083,97084,95882,98342,97085,95951,95895,104216,95899,95883,111579,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-793330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-dolphins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflchargers","16":"tag-sstsnchargers","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagjonnu-smith","19":"tag-taglos-angeles-chargers","20":"tag-tagmiami-dolphins","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoronde-gadsden-ii","23":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-tagwill-dissly","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116175624206180649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793330","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=793330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}