The Pittsburgh Steelers have already moved on from QB Kenny Pickett, with Russell Wilson now taking charge of the offense; according to TE Pat Freiermuth, he’s already begun organizing workouts, which recently included WRs Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III, Bob Labriola notes for the team’s website today.
Labriola references it in his latest Asked and Answered article, noting the presence of Austin and Jefferson. We do not know who else participated in the workouts out in San Diego. Omission does not equal absence in this case, as far as we know, however.
“Pat Freiermuth has said that recently he got together in San Diego with Calvin Austin III and Van Jefferson to run routes and begin to work on chemistry with recently acquired quarterback Russell Wilson”, Labriola wrote. “So that’s an example of players getting together informally for some offseason work”.
Austin is entering his third season with the Steelers as a 2022 fourth-round draft pick. After spending his rookie season on the Reserve/Injured List, he played in every game last season. In addition to nearly 400 snaps on offense, he logged 80 on special teams, serving as the team’s punt returner.
Offensively, Austin only caught 17 passes on 30 targets for 180 yards with one touchdown. A big chunk of that came on one 72-yard touchdown reception in the early portions of the season. He did add one rushing touchdown, and he also caught a touchdown pass in the Steelers’ playoff loss in Buffalo.
The Steelers signed Jefferson as an unrestricted free agent this offseason to add to Pickens and Austin. A former second-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams, they traded him to the Atlanta Falcons midseason in 2023. There he played, albeit rather briefly, for new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.
Neither Austin nor Jefferson has any prior connections to Russell Wilson, whom the Steelers signed as a free agent. But he has over a decade of NFL experience and has worked with all sorts of different players over the years, needless to say.
As for Freiermuth, he’s coming off a down year after dealing with a hamstring injury. He caught just 32 passes last year for 308 yards and two touchdowns, both scores coming in the first three weeks. Freiermuth caught nine passes for 120 yards in Week 12, but otherwise never even hit 45 in any other game.
In 2022, however, he caught 63 passes for 732 yards, seemingly blossoming into a featured pass-catching tight end. Truth be told, Wilson’s history with tight ends and their production is spotty. But at least they’re all starting to get work in together.
Of course, the biggest connection is between Wilson and WR George Pickens, but we don’t know if they’ve hooked up yet. The Steelers are also highly likely to add a wide receiver during the second day of the 2024 NFL Draft. We can probably assume that they’ll try to get some more workouts in this offseason—one wonders if those will include QB Justin Fields in the future.
