I am not yet to be trusted on NFL stats
There's so f***ing many of them and sometimes I'm not entirely sure what the f*** they're showing.
But in these case I used Intended Air Yards per Attempt on Pro Football Reference. I feel like that's a reasonably good barometer to how aggressive teams are being with their passing game and how often they're going deep
2023 - Ridder is 9th
2022 - Mariota is 1st
2021 - Ryan is 28th
2020 - Tannehill is 12th
2019 - Tannehill is 3rd
2024 - Wilson - 18th, Fields 21st
As we can see, Smith is nearly always towards the top of the league. The one exception prior to this year was Matt Ryan and I suspect he was cooked and unable to do it. The idea that this limitation applies to Wilson or Fields is risible. Ergo, you have to ask why is Smith not doing what he likes to do.
It is possible this stat represents the team is still going deep as often as a Smith team likes to, but is instead never throwing intermediate passes. That wouldn't surprise me. I believe the data is out there for QBs targeting said areas, maybe even not behind a paywall but I am *checks list of excuses* ah yes, too lazy to go look.
In any case, the exact cause for this statistical difference is, I think, mildly besides the point.
Whether it's less deep throws or less intermediate throws, the depth of target is indicating Smith had to pull back his horns from where he's been at previous years.