The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Will Zach Gentry be brought back with Pat Freiermuth sidelined?
Third-year TE Pat Freiermuth exited Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury. According to a report yesterday, he could potentially be sidelined for a couple of games. While that doesn’t necessarily mean a stint on the Reserve/Injured List, it could result in the Steelers making a move.
They seem to have already made the precursor move for that, waiving WR Dez Fitzpatrick, who began the season on the practice squad, without making a reciprocal move. That leaves the Steelers currently with a 52-man roster. If they were going to call up TE Rodney Williams from the practice squad, this may have been the time they would have done it, though they still can.
Given that they did not, this naturally leads to speculation about what move they could make, like, say, adding a tight end who already has four years of experience in the system. That would be Zach Gentry, who spent this offseason with the team but did not make the 53-man roster.
He also did not sign with their practice squad, but we do not know if he was offered a spot and declined or if he just wanted to pursue other opportunities. At the moment, he is sitting on the Cincinnati Bengals’ practice squad and, well, they have an even worse record than Pittsburgh.
Absent Freiermuth, the Steelers have rookie Darnell Washington at the tight end position, who caught his first pass on Sunday. There is also Connor Heyward, a hybrid player who is not much of an in-line blocking option.
What we can say for sure is that the Steelers will be making some kind of move, because they opened up a roster spot. But that is all we know. We don’t even know if it will be a tight end, and if it is, if it will be Gentry. But given their history, you certainly can’t rule it out.
