In just under two weeks the Pittsburgh Steelers will return to action to kick off the 2023 season at Acrisure Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers.
Until then, there’s a lot of downtime without actual football. Though roster decisions will dominate the headlines between now and then, there won’t be much happening leading up to the start of the regular season.
Knowing that, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar felt it was a good time to drop the initial portion of his Top 101 players in the NFL today based on tape, releasing No. 76-101 on Monday morning. In that initial 25 players, the Pittsburgh Steelers saw two offensive weapons crack the list.
That would be tight end Pat Freiermuth at No. 89 and wide receiver George Pickens at No. 81.
Freiermuth was the first tight end inside the top 101 in Farrar’s rankings and is coming off of ranking at No. 6 at the tight end position in Touchdown Wire’s positional rankings earlier in the summer.
“Last season, in a passing game that could generously be referred to as ‘restrictive,’ Freiermuth caught 63 passes on 96 targets for 732 yards and two touchdowns,” Farrar writes. “He was a big-play machine when big plays were allowed to happen, and in his case, we’ll drill down to his stats against zone coverage — 45 catches on 58 targets for 504 yards. Like all of the NFL’s top tight ends, Freiermuth has an instinctive understanding of how to open up zones.”
In his first two seasons, Freiermuth hauled in 123 passes for 1,229 yards and nine touchdowns. That included a stellar rookie season in 2021 with Ben Roethlisberger under center, hauling in 60 passes for 497 yards and seven touchdowns. In Year Two, Freiermuth increased his receptions to 63 and yards to 732 as Farrar points out, but the touchdowns didn’t follow as the Steelers had some struggles in the red zone offensively.
Even with some of the struggles from the team in the red zone, Freiermuth is money in that area when given a chance. In fact, all nine of Freiermuth’s touchdowns have come in the red zone, tied for the fifth-most among tight ends in that area over the past two seasons.
He’s a sure-handed tight end overall, one who catches seemingly everything in his vicinity. He’s good against man coverage and, as Farrar points out, among the elite against zone coverage, knowing how to find the soft spot and showing his quarterback his numbers.
Freiermuth appears poised for a big season in 2023.
So, too, does Pickens, who is a burgeoning star.
Pickens was the top receiver ranked in the initial 25 players, edging out New York Jets standout Garrett Wilson.
“In an offense that was known far more for short stuff, Pickens managed 11 catches on passes of 20 or more air yards from the outside on just 20 targets for 342 yards, 293 air yards, and no touchdowns. Perhaps Pickett will unlock more deep-ball acumen in his second season to make the Pickett-to-Pickens combo even more dangerous; their rookie seasons together saw Pickens carrying most of the load,” Farrar writes. “That he could do so most estimably is what landed him on this list. Pickens managed 15 explosive plays in his rookie campaign from the outside, and 10 of them came on straight go balls where one cornerback or another throughout the NFL fond himself overwhelmed by Pickens’ athletic profile.”
Pickens was a monster in the passing game last season for the Steelers, giving Pittsburgh a real jolt vertically, helping provide some explosive elements to a rather simple, stagnant offensive attack.
As a rookie, Pickens finished with 52 receptions for 801 yards and four touchdowns, making big plays down the stretch.
While he still has a significant amount of developing to do at the position overall from a route running standpoint, the physical tools are there in abundance for Pickens, who was the 11th receiver taken in the 2022 NFL Draft. He’s on an ascending path. If he can continue to develop his all-around game at the position, the sky is the limit for the former Georgia standout.
