With the Pittsburgh Steelers playing their Week 14 game on Thursday night, Saturday is a good day to tie up a few loose ends when it comes to one particular thing related to TE Pat Freiermuth when looking ahead to the 2024 season. That one particular thing for Freiermuth revolves around the Proven Performance Escalator in the CBA.
As I wrote back in July, Freiermuth entered the 2023 season with a chance at securing a Proven Performance Escalator raise for 2024 but only if able to stay on the field and ultimately play 60 percent of the team’s offensive snaps this season. Sadly, that’s now very unlikely to happen.
To recap what the PPE is and the qualifications of receiving it:
In the league’s new CBA, the Proven Performance Escalator is now a three-level, non-negotiable amount in which a player’s base salary in the fourth year of his rookie contract increases if he meets certain predetermined thresholds.
The Level One PPE in the CBA is structured differently for second-round picks and those selected in Rounds 3 through 7. To qualify for Level One, second-round picks must either (a) play 60 percent of his team’s offensive or defensive plays in any two of his first three seasons or (b) participate in a cumulative average of 60 percent of his team’s offensive or defensive plays over the course of his first three regular seasons. For third- through seventh-round picks, players can hit either (a) or (b) above, but the threshold to reach drops to 35 percent of such plays. For such players, the Level One PPE increases a player’s fourth-year base salary by the difference of the original-round tender for restricted free agents set for the player’s fourth season and the player’s Year 4 rookie salary, less any signing bonus prorations. This amount is then added to the player’s Year 4 base salary.
In the case of Freiermuth, who was the Steelers’ second-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, he needed to play 60 percent of his team’s offensive snaps in either two of his first three seasons (2021-2023) or an average of 60 percent of the total offensive snaps over the course of his first three seasons (2021-2023). Unfortunately for him, he will not do so.
In 2021, Freiermuth’s rookie season, he played just 58.2% of the team’s total offensive snaps, which obviously was below the 60 percent threshold. In 2022, however, Freiermuth played 64.1% of all offensive snaps and at that point, his average for the two seasons was above the 60 percent threshold and thus had him on course for not only a Level One PPE increase in 2024, but a Level Two PPE increase as well.
With Freiermuth not hitting the 60 percent threshold in each of his first two seasons independently, his 2023 season requirements to maintain at least his Level One PPE status revolved around him playing at least 60 percent of the team’s total offensive snaps. With 13 games now in the books for 2023 for the Steelers, Freiermuth won’t hit that percentage barring the team averaging 115 offensive snaps per game in their final four contests and the tight end playing every one of those snaps.
To date, Freiermuth has played 308 of 820 (37.6%) offensive snaps in 2023. That is because the Penn State product missed five full games earlier this season with a hamstring injury. If you remember back, Freiermuth initially suffered his hamstring injury in Week Four and that resulted in him missing the Week Five game. The Steelers did not place him on their Reserve/Injured list then as they gave him a chance to recover during the bye week.
After returning from the team’s Week Six bye, Freiermuth practiced fully that first day of Week Seven. However, he was limited the next day in practice, a Thursday, and then failed to practice on Friday, and then the team ruled him out on the injury report. Prior to that Week Seven game, the Steelers placed Freiermuth on the Reserve/Injured list and that meant he had to miss at least four games at that point.
Since returning from his hamstring injury, Freiermuth has played 156 of a possible 260 offensive snaps. In short, it’s now nearly impossible for him to hit 60 percent for the season.
How much money will Freiermuth miss out on in 2024 by failing to qualify for a Proven Performance Escalator? Well, should he have qualified for at least a Level One PPE raise, Freiermuth’s estimated 2024 salary would have been $2,992,000 (predicted original-round tender for RFAs). Freiermuth is currently scheduled to earn a base salary in 2024 of $1,482,024 as part of his rookie contract so failing to hit at least a Level One PPE will cost him a little more than $1.5 million in 2024.
Now, Freiermuth missing out on a PPE raise in 2024 aside, there’s obviously still a chance that the Steelers will sign him to a lucrative contract extension during the offseason. The possibility of that, however, might have decreased a tiny bit this season with him missing five games due to injury. Remember, Freiermuth also missed a game in each of his first two seasons due to concussions. All of that noted, I doubt the Steelers see Freiermuth as a huge injury risk moving forward. After all, hamstring injuries happen from time to time.
With four games now remaining in the 2023 regular season, it is imperative that Freiermuth remains healthy and productive on the field. To date, he has 24 receptions this season for 227 yards and two touchdowns. It would be nice to see him hit at least 40 receptions for the season with a few more touchdown receptions as well.
