Oh, my, do the Steelers' players love Smith's new offense ... Skenes' pressure point ... Geno's big switch? ... Tons more!

Can't tell a lie: I hadn't anticipated the Steelers' players telling me all week about ... tells.

But they sure did, almost always without being asked, anytime the subject of the offense arose, in comparing the architecture Arthur Smith's installing to what Matt Canada had in place.

“Here's what I'll say: It’s going to benefit us a lot," Pat Freiermuth told me of Smith's offense. "Moving us around, showcasing our best abilities of what we’re capable of, but also not giving tells. I think he does a great job with formations, adjustments, shifts and stuff. That’s going to be really good for us to execute. But so far I’m seeing it, understanding the offense, and it’s been great so far."

To which, of course, I followed up: Tells?

Big boy simply smiled.

He was anything but alone. 

An offensive lineman told me that Canada's "tells," or transparent signs of the offense's intent that tip off what they're about to do, were so egregious that opposing players would shout to each other how to prepare. As the lineman worded it, "We had no advantage. We just had to out-execute them."

A wide receiver it'll be "night and day" to operate in Smith's offense on this count alone. And when I asked if he could be sure that'll be the case, he laughed and replied, "Oh, definitely."

But that's not all.

"You've got a group here that wants to push down the field, that wants to be physical," Freiermuth told me. "That's what we're going to be all about. And that's great because that's the kind of players we've got in here."

• I get the sense Smith feels the same way, per a chat we had, seeing his players as more than tough enough to achieve such an identity in short order.

• No individual turned more heads more quickly at OTAs than Roman Wilson. And ... let's just say he knows it. The kid doesn't lack for confidence.

• Quite the sight in the 2024 football culture but, as I was working the locker room this week, I noticed on one wall that all the offensive linemen were carrying on ... except Troy Fautanu, who kept his head in his stall. And on another wall, Elandon Roberts and Patrick Queen were in a similar scene with the inside linebackers ... while Payton Wilson sat on a stool silently and absorbed. Good stuff.

• Heard not a syllable about any plan to add a wide receiver. If anything, that was being downplayed all over the place. We'll see. I have a hard time corroborating that concept with Omar Khan seemingly rushing to restructure Alex Highsmith's contract to save $7 million on the eve of this past NFL Draft. Khan didn't do that because he was bored.

• Minkah Fitzpatrick told me: "It's just so good to be out there, healthy. I couldn't be happier right now." Is there a bigger variable on the entire roster?

• The complete list of those deserving credit for the NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh is as follows:

1. Art Rooney II.

That's it. Forget any politicians who popped into the photos, and most definitely dismiss Visit Pittsburgh, a sham of an operation that'll soon have its day of reckoning on multiple fronts. Rooney'd been at this for two years. He understood it was overdue, and he made sure the Steelers stood in line to take their turn. He and everyone he aligned with the team did exceptional work.

PIRATES

• Paul Skenes and I had a talk this past spring in Sarasota, Fla., about how he'd always want to push himself to become a complete pitcher, rather than one who'd lean on all that power. 

We had another talk yesterday after what might've looked like a lesser light among his three big-league starts to date -- a run, six hits, three strikeouts and a walk over six innings -- and I reminded him of that Sarasota sentiment, in large part because he eschewed some of that triple-digit heat in favor of spinning some other hits.

This pitch from yesterday, for instance, is the so-called 'splinker' that's described in that same link above: