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I don't think the issue here is that Smith is coming off the field in obvious passing situations, because 3 WRs plus Henry and an RB is usually the right personnel there. Bourne is running a lot of the same routes and winning in the same way (underneath catches followed by YAC) that we would have expected Smith to anyway.
The problem is that Smith is so often on the field on early downs with Johnson, sometimes both Johnson and Onwenu, and later in the season even the Johnson, Onwenu, and Harry trio. They need fewer obvious running personnel groupings, more Henry in place of Johnson on early downs, and more passes on early downs, especially early in the game.
A lot of this may have been related to Mac's development, as it makes more sense to put super heavy personnel on the field if you know you're running the ball because Mac isn't going to change the play at the line. As the training wheels come off and he gets the freedom to make those calls to exploit mismatches after teams are lined up, it's going to be more important to have another viable route-runner on the field as opposed to the FB or extra OL.
(I'm sorry, Jakob fans. Keep him around for obvious running situations, like 8% of the offensive snaps instead of this season's 28%.)
The problem is that Smith is so often on the field on early downs with Johnson, sometimes both Johnson and Onwenu, and later in the season even the Johnson, Onwenu, and Harry trio. They need fewer obvious running personnel groupings, more Henry in place of Johnson on early downs, and more passes on early downs, especially early in the game.
A lot of this may have been related to Mac's development, as it makes more sense to put super heavy personnel on the field if you know you're running the ball because Mac isn't going to change the play at the line. As the training wheels come off and he gets the freedom to make those calls to exploit mismatches after teams are lined up, it's going to be more important to have another viable route-runner on the field as opposed to the FB or extra OL.
(I'm sorry, Jakob fans. Keep him around for obvious running situations, like 8% of the offensive snaps instead of this season's 28%.)