What Steelers Rookies Are Telling Us About Matt Canada's Offense
PITTSBURGH -- So far, all we know about the Pittsburgh Steelers' offense with Matt Canada running the show is that it reminds Najee Harris of Alabama.
"There's a lot of things that are similar," Harris said at rookie minicamp over the weekend. "It's just different terminology, but the same meaning at the end of the day."
By similar, Harris means how players are used. The 24th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft is coming off a 30-touchdown season with the Crimson Tide, where he saw 26 scores on the ground and four through the air. In the NFL, he believes the Steelers will give him the opportunity to be utilized "everywhere" like he was in an Alabama offense that averaged 48.5 points per game in 2020.
"What they're doing in their offense really resembles a lot of what we did in terms of putting the players in the best position to make a play and not doing too much thinking --just fast playing," Harris said, comparing the Steelers and Alabama's playbooks. "It seems like they're trying to make everything as easy as possible so players can just play fast and use the best of their abilities."
Harris expects Canada to utilize his receiving abilities and line the running back up out wide as a receiver. He told media on Saturday that the Steelers' have plans to use him and other runners in the slot and on the outside under their new offensive coordinator.
Second-round pick Pat Freiermuth also provided some inside. The Steelers have always been fans of 12-personnel, using two tight ends in a formation. With Eric Ebron and Freiermuth, that won't change.
Freiermuth will see some things in Canada's offense that he didn't see at Penn State.
"Just from the first install that we did, there's a decent amount," Freiermuth said on pre-snap movement of tight ends. "I did not do a lot of pre-snap motion at Penn State. I would kind of motion in, depending on the look or something like that, but at Penn State we'd kind of get set and roll with the play we had. It's going to take some adjusting to, but I felt good doing it."
Freiermuth called Canada's offense "complex but simple in the same way." Coming off a year where the opponents raved about being able to guess the Steelers' plays, complexity is an upgrade -- and a necessary evil for this group.
There's still plenty of time before Canada's offense is revealed in full to media, opponents and fans. The team is working through phase two of their offseason workouts, bringing in players to study with coaches.
"We're just beginning to work," head coach Mike Tomlin said. "We're just beginning the team development process, just beginning the opportunity to have an opportunity to work with the men day-to-day on skills relative to that aspect of that play."
The Steelers will open OTAs from May 25-27, June 1-3 and 7-10. They announced earlier this offseason they would not attend voluntary workouts this offseason due to health concerns. Mandatory minicamp will run June 15-17.
Noah Strackbein is a Publisher with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
