The Steelers have a new sheriff in town at their offensive coordinator position. After an abysmal 2020 season on offense, the Steelers decided to not renew Randy Fichtner's contract with the Steelers. Randy may have been a great person, but he did a terrible job as the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. So the Steelers have decided to promote Matt Canada to offensive coordinator for the near future. One topic everyone asks in regards to the 2020 season is what happened to the full-back position in 2020?
The Steelers signed Derek Watt to a $9.7 million dollar contract in 2020. Surely the Steelers had a plan to use him not only on Special Teams but at the full-back position as well. That never happened even though Fichtner said the Steelers were going to use him. The reason why the Steelers didn't use him at the beginning of the season was that he was overcoming a few injuries that set him back due to Covid-19. They wanted to make sure he was caught up before he saw the football field. Well by the middle of the season in 2020 he should have been caught up but was never used.
During Matt Canada's time with Pittsburgh, he had full-back George Ashton who was a walk-on in 2016. According to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ashton blocked, ran routes, caught passes, and scored 10 touchdowns with Matt Canada. George caught passes in the air and ran the football in Matt Canada's offense. Not to mention Matt Canada was Derek Watt's offensive coordinator at Wisconsin in 2012. Derek caught 12 passes for 150 yards as a full-back.
It is safe to say Matt Canada uses the full-back in his scheme, unlike Randy Fichtner. That is music to our ears to hear that as well. The Steelers need to get back to what their organization is known for.... Running the ball down their opponent's mouth each and every game. The Steelers need to get a power running back in the 2021 draft and start using their full-back the way it is supposed to be used. According to Matt Canada's track record, they should get back to their old ways of running the football. Let's just hope Mike Tomlin allows his coordinators to call the plays like they're supposed to. The full-back position should be back in 2021 if Matt Canada runs the show on offense.
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