Can TE Pat Freiermuth be the No. 2 target in a successful Steelers passing game?
Quite honestly, this is a subject I’ve contemplated a lot this offseason. There is a realistic possibility that the Steelers enter the 2024 season counting on TE Pat Freiermuth as one of their top two targets within the offense behind WR George Pickens. Is that a good idea? Does he have the skill set and consistency to command that kind of attention at a productive level?
During the 2022 season, Freiermuth drew 98 targets, averaging 6.125 targets per game (missing one game). He caught 63 passes for 732 yards and 2 touchdowns. Quarterbacks averaged 7.5 yards per attempt while targeting him and a 53.1-percent success rate. He also averaged a career-high 11.6 yards per catch.
And he was the second-most-targeted option in the passing game that year, behind Diontae Johnson. Johnson received 147 targets to Freiermuth’s 98, while Pickens drew 84 targets. Pickens outproduced him in yardage and scores, however.
There is a good handful of tight ends in the league who are equipped for that kind of workload. Perhaps I should say a decent handful of tight ends who are true No. 2 targets for their offense. There’s Travis Kelce, of course, and Evan Engram, T.J. Hockenson and Sam LaPorta, Trey McBride and David Njoku. Is Pat Freiermuth in that group?
The thing is, he isn’t the most athletic or agile of that bunch. He is much more similar to a Heath Miller, and Miller himself recently admitted that he wouldn’t be a dominant receiving tight end in today’s game. Freiermuth claims that he has worked on his speed and movement this offseason, so we can only hope that pays off.
I think it’s legitimate to question, though, if this passing offense can thrive relying upon Freiermuth as the secondary target behind Pickens. Is he that kind of receiving tight end that you game-plan around? Or is he more of the “quarterback’s best friend” release-valve type of complementary piece?
The Steelers’ 2023 season has been put out of its misery, ending as so many have before in recent years: a disappointing, blowout playoff loss. The only change-up lately is when they miss the playoffs altogether. But with the Buffalo Bills stamping them out in the Wildcard Round, they have another long offseason ahead.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Does Russell Wilson make them a Super Bowl-caliber team, or are they wasting a year? Will he play just one season in Pittsburgh before moving on, or the Steelers moving on from him? How will the team address the depth chart?
The Steelers are past free agency and the draft and their roster for the 2024 season is coming into focus. They made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
