Pittsburgh Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth has been out for the past two games. Unsurprisingly, the tight end position has been quiet in the team’s offense during that time. Relatively speaking, anyway, given that it wasn’t making much noise with him in the lineup, either. And that’s precisely former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger’s problem.
“Pat is still so underused. So underused”, he said on the latest episode of his Footbahlin podcast. And the numbers do reflect that. He was targeted just 13 times over the first four games of the season, catching eight passes for 53 yards. He did score twice, but the volume opportunity is just not there. And Roethlisberger doesn’t know why.
“I don’t have an answer to that. I can’t say it’s a scheme thing, or is [QB Kenny Pickett] just not looking for him? I loved throwing to the tight end”, he said, noting that that includes Freiermuth, as their careers overlapped in 2021, the latter’s rookie year.
Freiermuth caught 60 passes as a rookie for 497 yards and seven touchdowns. He had another strong season last year, recording 63 receptions for 732 yards, though he only scored twice. Needless to say, his numbers won’t look like that this year.
After all, he will miss at least five games. He was placed on the Reserve/Injured List just before Sunday’s game and will have to miss at least three more before he is eligible to return. He injured his hamstring against the Houston Texans.
Returning to practice last week, he aggravated the injury, apparently significantly. Which is rather a shame for Roethlisberger, who understands just how important that position can be not just to the offense as a whole, but to the quarterback in particular.
“The tight end is like a quarterback’s best friend”, he said, adding that there’s “something about having that guy”. Asked to explain what it is about the tight end that makes him so valuable in the quarterback’s eye, it came down to dependability.
“For me, it was always the comfort in knowing that the tight end was going to be in the right spot”, he said. “He was gonna be where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t gonna ad lib. He wasn’t gonna make up his own thing. If he was supposed to run 12 yards and turn around, he was gonna be there. He wasn’t gonna go 10 or 14 or turn the wrong way”.
As a reminder, Roethlisberger played most of his career with Heath Miller as his tight end. Miller recorded 592 catches during his career for 6,569 yards and 45 touchdowns, with the good majority of that coming from Roethlisberger. Most notable between Miller and Freiermuth was Vance McDonald, with whom he became close.
After the Steelers drafted Freiermuth in 2021, ahead of Roethlisberger’s final season, former Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said of his new tight end that he’s “the closest thing to Heath Miller I’ve ever seen”. It’s no wonder he remains such a fan of the team’s top tight end.
