While he didn’t necessarily fly under the radar as a second-round draft pick, Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth’s emergence over the course of his first two seasons has felt just a bit quiet. Not that he hasn’t gotten noticed. Indeed, he got an invitation to attend the Tight End University summit hosted by George Kittle, Travis Kelce, and Greg Olsen after his rookie season.
He couldn’t attend because it conflicted with a prior family trip plan, but he’ll be there this year. There he’ll get to talk shop with some of the best in the business, including Kittle, who should have been the Steelers’ fourth-round draft pick in 2017, but I digress. The two have already connected, even if not so much face-to-face.
“I do know [Freiermuth] and Kittle communicate a lot”, tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts told Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Just to see his game expand knowledge-wise — physically, he’s still got to work through some things going into his third year — he’s excited. I’m excited for him because some of the things he did last year, you can see the growth”.
Terms like ‘a lot’ are relative, of course, and Freiermuth didn’t seem to be willing to use it in describing his level of communication with Kittle, but he did confirm that they do share messages. “I’ve talked to Kittle a little bit about training with him”, he said. “He’s a great dude, so I’m excited to get down there”.
Kittle has been one of the best all-around tight ends in the NFL pretty much since he was drafted, having spent his entire career up to this point with the San Francisco 49ers. He has one of his best seasons in 2022, recording a career-high 11 touchdowns. In 2018, he picked up 1377 receiving yards and followed that up with another 1000-yard season in only 14 games.
He is a four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, so not a bad quasi-mentor for the young Freiermuth as he enters year three. While the passing game is his strength, as well, perhaps Kittle can share some nuggets of wisdom to improve his blocking, which was a stated goal last offseason, so seemingly not so much this year.
Truth be told, it may well be that his focus will narrow even further on the passing game now with the Steelers drafting Darnell Washington, who himself identifies as the sixth lineman on social media. He certainly has not only the size, but the mentality of a blocker.
Hopefully one day both of the Steelers’ tight ends will be able to chop it up with the greats of the game like Kittle. Freiermuth can talk about routes and releases, and Washington can talk about burying people into the ground.
