Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward used his podcast platform to praise the hire of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

“Arthur Smith (was) balling out with Tennessee all those years ago,” Heyward said on his “Not just Football” podcast. “I know he didn’t have all the success in Atlanta, and everybody is talking about it. … But, shoot, I’m happy about it.

“It’s great to have an OC with some experience. The main thing I loved about what he said was it’s all about relationships. You can have all the Xs and Os, but if you don’t have an OC who the players trust, it’s not going to work.”

Heyward also blasted those who have been critical of the move.

“I just don’t like condemning a guy before he gets the job,” Heyward said. “I understand he’s had success (in) one place and (Tennessee as OC) and didn’t have success in his last job (Atlanta as head coach). Let’s just calm down. Let’s pump the brakes. You can have urgency and be positive about it and be optimistic about it.”

“Urgency” certainly seems to be the buzzword over at the Steelers’ facility. I am still waiting to see how that urgency is going to manifest, though. The organization is going to keep the head coach, extend the defensive coordinator, give the benched QB his job back, and has now hired an offensive coordinator with the same philosophical approach as the current head coach.

That doesn’t strike me as acting with urgency.

But I digress. Heyward also suggested some fans and media who are unhappy with this decision need to let things develop.

“You’ve got to give him time,” Heyward said. “I just don’t get already throwing the guy under the bus and saying, ‘Oh man, I can’t believe we did this.’ What makes you think you know better than the guys in the front office? You don’t think they’ve been doing their homework, studying this guy? And if they do have success, that’s great. If they don’t, OK, they missed. But I can’t get behind the mob saying, ‘Oh, man. I can’t believe we did this.’ It’s ridiculous.”

Well, I’m not wild about the hire. I guess that makes me part of the “mob.” However, I’m not condemning Smith or automatically assuming this choice will fail. In fact, as I’ve previously written, I could see where — conceptually — Smith can make things work.