Steelers Playbook: The Sail concept

In today’s installment of Steelers Playbook, we’re looking at the Sail passing concept, which is an Arthur Smith staple, and the primary play-action complement to Pittsburgh’s zone run scheme.

The Scheme

Sail is a fairly simple three-level pattern. There’s a low route at about 2-3 yards depth, an intermediate route at 12-14 yards, and a high route that attacks the deep outside. Sail is sometimes referred to as a “flood” concept, because all three routes work the same third of the field. The routes move away from the middle of the field, with the goal of creating a high-low read on a targeted defender or outnumbering the defense into the boundary.

Sail can be run from the pocket or as a bootleg. Smith prefers the latter. He likes to align his quarterback under center, fake a handoff, then boot the quarterback away from the fake. This provides the added benefit of giving the quarterback the option to run the ball if all three routes are covered. Sail can originate from a multitude of looks and combinations, but the Steelers tend to do it from 12 personnel to give the defense a pre-snap run tendency.

Use in Pittsburgh

The Steelers ran some form of Sail in almost every game last season. Predominantly, it was used as a high-percentage throw to the flat. That route was most commonly manned by a tight end, but occasionally they’d use a receiver there as well. The vertical route was targeted at times, too, most often when the Steelers liked the matchup. They’d throw deep to George Pickens if he got a favorable one-on-one, or to one of their tight ends when they were covered by a smaller defensive back. They did not hit the intermediate route very often, largely because it came from the backside of the formation and was often the third option in the quarterback’s progression.

Here’s one of the variations of Sail the Steelers used last season:

Outlook for 2025

Sail is a natural complement to Smith’s zone run game, and a fairly low-risk, inexpensive play. This suggests it will remain a staple in Pittsburgh’s playbook. Whether we see as much of it in 2025 as we did last season is the question.

Both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson had the mobility to execute its bootleg component, and were effective throwing on the move. Pittsburgh’s current quarterbacks — Mason Rudolph and Will Howard — are bigger and less athletic than Fields and Wilson, but neither is immobile. Aaron Rodgers, should he sign with Pittsburgh, is one of the best off-platform throwers in NFL history, and has run the Sail concept so many times he can probably do it in his sleep. The question is, at age 41, will his body allow him to do it effectively, and how much will Arthur Smith want to move him out of the pocket and potentially expose him to hits? Like everything else with Rodgers, your guess is as good as mine.

I found the news last week that the Steelers had engaged in trade talks for Miami tight end Jonnu Smith — who played for Arthur Smith in both Tennessee and Atlanta — very interesting. Pittsburgh’s tight ends caught 96 passes last year. They averaged 110 per season when Arthur Smith was the play-caller for the Falcons from 2021-2023. That decrease could be a factor of Pittsburgh lacking a significant receiving tight end to pair with Pat Freiermuth. Darnell Washington is a solid blocker, but two years into his career, has caught just 26 passes. Moving forward, Smith may want to expand both his use of Sail, and of Pittsburgh’s tight ends in general, in the passing game. Their interest in Jonnu Smith could suggest they feel they must upgrade the tight end group to do so.

For my video breakdown of the Sail concept, check out the player below:

Continuing with our Steelers playbook videos for @SteelCNetwork. Up today — the Sail concept, which is Arthur Smith’s favorite play-action pass off of the zone run scheme. Take a look ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/UCcf0DNt9T

— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) June 2, 2025

For more of my work, follow me on Twitter @KTSmithFFSN, and tune into my “Call Sheet Daily” podcast, which runs every Monday-Friday on most major platforms.